Skip to Main Content
     

SOCL 280: Global Culture & Society (Germann Molz): Online Resources

EVALUATING WEBSITES

Google is a great tool--just make sure that you evaluate the websites in your search results.
Questions to help you evaluate the websites that you decide to use for your 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?

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?