According to Internet Live Stats, there are over 1.5 billion websites on the World Wide Web today. With current tools, almost anyone can create a website. Website owners can write, print or publish anything they would like without worrying about the consequences. With the massive amounts of information that we are interacting with each day, it is a daunting task to determine what is credible. Here are five quick tips for evaluating websites.
1. Check the Web Address
The first thing you should do is look at the web address for determining credibility. Each web address has a three-letter suffix. The suffix “com”, for example, represents commercial companies and does not guarantee the reliability of the website. The following suffixes are more reliable web addresses.
gov or mil- Governments and military.
org-Primarily used by non-profit groups.
edu or ac -Accredited higher education schools.
sch or k12-Accredited K-12 schools.
Is this a personal page?
Even if the web address has one of the suffixes listed above, you should also check if it is a personal page. You can check for the personal sites by looking at a personal name (e.g., jwarner or warner) following a tilde (~), percent sign (%) or the words “users”, “members” or “people”. Personal pages are not necessarily bad, but there is a need to investigate the author carefully.
Is it published by an entity that makes sense?
If it is not a web address with the above reliable suffixes, please check if you have heard of this entity before. For example “www.nytimes.com” is a recognizable news site.
2. Check the Authors
Find out who the author is. You can find information on the author by looking for information under “About us” or “Philosophy” or “Background” or “Biography”. Try to answer the following questions:
●Who wrote the pages?
●What are the author’s credentials on the subject?
●What else has the author written?
●Does the author represent a certain political, cultural or social group, organization?
3. Check the Dates
It is important that the information that you are accessing is up-to-date. Please analyze the website and try to analyze the following points:
●Look for the date “last updated”. This information is usually at the bottom of the web page.
●If this is a publication, check when it was first published. This information is usually at the top of the page.
●If you cannot find the date of a website, do a right click and click on ‘inspect’ or find ‘properties’ to check the date.
4. Check the Purpose and Accuracy
Knowing the motive behind the website’s creation can help you judge on the reliability of the content and whether the information provided has been altered or manipulated in some way to change the meaning. You can check the “about” link or look at the disclaimers to find information about the purpose of the website.
Why was the page put on the web? Try to understand the agenda and analyze the website taking into consideration the following questions:
Ms. Ufuk Yagci - Educational Technology Coordinator
The New Digital Dilemma: Fact or Fiction
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Technology Corner