Learn Easy Steps: Evaluating a Website

Created Dec. 4, 2023 by Clarity Innovations

Learn: Easy Steps

Activity Card: Evaluating a Website

Are you wondering what characteristics determine whether a website is reputable? Are you planning to use a web site as a source of reference and need to know if it is acceptable? Would you like to know how to evaluate whether or not the sites you are visiting are legitimate? One way to help protect yourself online is to understand how to critically evaluate a website and identify potential malicious content.

How to Evaluate a Website

Introduction to website evaluation
If you browse the Web often it should be quite apparent that every site is different from the next. Why is any one website “better” than another? What are the basic features that make a good website? Are you evaluating a website for purpose of source material or a citation?

The Internet is full of a variety of different websites: News (New York Times), Sports (ESPN), Health (WebMD), Shopping (Wayfair), and more. But how do you know whether or not the website you are visiting is providing legitimate, or even accurate, information?

Look for these components when evaluating a website:

Authority (Source): It is important to identify who is providing the information. Is there a possibility the author has a certain opinion due to financial or other interests? If the author or publisher’s name is not in plain view you may find more detailed information in the “About” or “Contact Us” section (typically at the bottom of the page).

Accuracy: If the source is questionable, it is always a good idea to verify what you have found by locating the same information from another source.

Fake news has become increasingly pervasive across the entire online spectrum, so it’s critically important to distinguish bogus news from real unbiased reporting. It’s important to remember that not all fake news is completely fabricated and may actually contain some factual basis, so filtering it effectively is not always easy or straightforward. This situation requires us all to become more savvy and critical consumers. What are some of the ways we can sharpen our critical thinking skills and what sites are out there to assist us in separating fact from fake?

Websites such as Snopes.com, Fact Check.org , the International Fact Checking Organization (IFCN), and Politifact.com have all been around for a while and not only provide a good starting point, but also ongoing resources. Here are a few ideas for helping you to separate fact from fake:

  1. Verify the publishers credibility. Snopes maintains a list of known fake news sites, but a good first defense starts right at the URL. For example, something like cbsnews.com.co is not a top level domain and not the same as cbsnews.com.
  2. Verify the author and check their credentials. Just because they claim they’re an authority, or subject matter expert doesn’t mean they really are. Look past the author byline and attribution accompanying the article and see if it can be corroborated anywhere else.
  3. What is the publisher or publication point of view? For example, be sure it isn’t a satirical site such as the Onion.com or a site with some kind of bias or agenda.
  4. Pay attention to quality and timeliness. Is the article or email is riddled with spelling or grammatical errors? Are there a lot of ALL CAPS or exclamation marks!!! included in the story?
  5. Check the sources and citations. Are they legitimate, verifiable and unbiased? Quality journalism rests on a foundation of fact gathering and research.
  6. Who is quoted and what are they saying? Are their statements missing quote marks or other legitimate contributing sources?
  7. Can you perform reverse searches for images and sources? Photoshop and digital manipulation can be used to create some pretty convincing images.
  8. Read beyond the headline, especially if it seems provocative or sensational

Currency: Is the information up-to-date? This may be dependent on what type of information is being used. Some information is timeless or historical in nature, while other content is vulnerable to change (for example, politics or rapidly changing events in science). Typically, at the bottom of a web site’s page will be more information. Here you should find a copyright date or an “About” section or hyperlink.

Links: A good source provides citations for its information as well as links for further reading on the subject.

Domain: Is the web site linked to a federal agency (.gov), a nonprofit site (.org), an educational institution (.edu), or a business (.com)

Activity

If you are trying to do research on the Internet, you should have a set of guidelines to help determine if you have come across a good or bad source. Practice evaluating web sites by following the steps below:

  1. Choose on one or more of these websites (or go to a page of your own choosing), find an article or story, and review the key areas listed below.  cnn.com (http://www.cnn.com), The Onion (http://www.theonion.com), National Geographic (http://www.nationalgeographic.com), Natural News (http://www.naturalnews.com)
  2. Look for the page's author or source (Authority).
  3. Find some facts or statistics that can be cross-checked (Accuracy).
  4. Check to see if the site is up-to-date (Currency).
    Determine if the content is overly biased (Objectivity).
  5. Follow up on any links or resources provided on the page (Links).
  6. Keep website domain types in mind when researching. For example, .com or .edu (Domain).

Sources and Additional Information

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