Check Your Facts
EVALUATING WEBSITES
When you find a promising webpage, you often need to do some research about the site itself, exploring information provided on the homepage or in the About section.
Questions to help you evaluate websites as you research:
Author
Who is the author?
How is the author qualified?
Is the author an expert?
Does the author have bias? (Remember that a bias may not be directly stated.)
If no author is listed, why? Be wary of any site that does not list an author or group responsible for producing the content.
Host
Who hosts the site?
What is their purpose?
Does the host have bias? (Remember that a bias may not be directly stated.)
What is the domain extension? This can help you determine how reputable a website is. For example, .gov is the domain for United States government sites and .edu is for US Educational institutuions.
Sources
Does the site provide its sources?
Does it refer/link you to other credible sources?
Is the information able to be cross-referenced?
Currency
Is the site regularly updated?