Citing Your Findings
Help In Creating A Proper Bibliography

Who Is Phil Stohrer Anyway?
A Short Biography Of  The Author

Exploring The Web
Links To Sites

Evaluating a web site is no different than evaluating any other instructional tool. While the structure of a web page is different from a printed page, what constitutes good content is not. When you are determining how valuable a web site is as an instructional source, you should consider the following: 

Does the page have content or is it only links to other sites?  

Is the information accurate?  

• Is the information useful for your purpose? 
• Is the primary purpose of the site advertising or is it informational? 
• Does the information contradict something you already know or have learned from another source? 
• Is the information free from bias? 
• Is the information current? When was the web site created? When was it last updated? 
• Is the information more easily obtained from another source? (For example, a book, encyclopedia, periodical data base or DVD). 

Is the author or the creator credible?  

• Is the author identified? 
• Is there some reason given to assume that the author is an authority in the subject? For example, a web site on microbiology by a large university's biology faculty would be assumed to have credibility; a web site created by a freshman at that university would have less. 
• If the author is identified as a corporation or organization is there information available about the reliability of the group?

Is the content arranged in a useful manner?  

• Is the site graphically pleasing?
• Does the title indicate the contents of the page? 
• Are subheadings used to divide the information into logical sections? 
• Do graphics and other non-textual elements contribute to the usefulness of the page? 
• Are tables readable with your browser? Do they add to the content? 
• Are the pages accessible to persons with disabilities?

How easy is it to navigate within the web site?  

• If the document is long, are links provided to move through the document? 
• If the document is made of multiple pages, are links provided to return to the home page? To preceding pages?

For more discussion of this topic, try Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources or Evaluating Web Resources .

Hoax sites are an amusing addition to the web. See a listing here--just don't be too believing!

Comments? Questions? Send them to me at pstohrer@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu 

Please read the Disclaimer! 

This page and all accompanying pages copyright 1995, 2007 by Philip C. Stohrer. All rights reserved. Permission is herby granted for use in educational settings for this and all accompanying pages provided this copyright notice is retained.

 This page was last updated March 12, 2007.