Web Page Evaluation Checklist
Web Page Evaluation Checklist
1. Go to Google and perform the search: “stem cells” abortion
2. Use this Checklist to try to evaluate systematically some of the search results.
Title of page you are evaluating:
Title of page you are evaluating:
1. Look at the URL:
Personal page or site?
~ or %, or users, members, or people
~ or %, or users, members, or people
What type of domain is it?
com org/net edu gov/mil/us
com org/net edu gov/mil/us
Appropriate for the content?
non-US________
non-US________
other:
other:
Published by entity that makes sense?
Publisher or Domain Name entity:
Publisher or Domain Name entity:
Does it correspond to the name of the site?
2. Scan the perimeter of page, looking for answers to these questions:
Who wrote the page?
E-mail Name:
E-mail Name:
Dated?
Date ________ Current enough?
Date ________ Current enough?
Credentials on this subject?
Evidence?
Evidence?
(Truncate back the URL if no useful links.)
3. Look for these indicators of quality
Sources well documented?
Complete? If 2nd-hand information, is it not
altered or forged?
Links to more resources? Do they work?
Other viewpoints? Bias?
4. What do others say?
Many or few?
Many or few?
Who links to it?
Opinions of it?
Opinions of it?
Hint: In Google search: link:all.or.part.of.url
Is the page rated well in a directory?
http://lii.org or http://infomine.ucr.edu or http://about.com
Look up the author in Google
Does it all add up?
Why was the page put on the Web?
Inform, facts, data Explain
Inform, facts, data Explain
Persuade Sell Entice
Persuade Sell/entice
Share/disclose
Share/disclose
Other:
Other:
Possibly ironic? Satire or parody?
BOTTOM LINE: Is the web page as good as (or better than) what you could find in journal articles or
other published literature that is not on the free, general web?
2002 Joe Barker, The Teaching Library, University of California, Berkeley
“The Best Stuff On The Web”
