Funk Library · University of Illinois · www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces
Evaluating a Website
Checklist
The Internet provides access to billions of webpages from around the
world. How can you tell what is accurate and reliable? By evaluating the
website to ascertain its purpose, audience, author, coverage, currency,
accuracy, and reliability. Using the questions in this checklist will help you
decide how credible a website is.
Y/N
Purpose
What is the purpose of the page? To inform, explain, persuade, or
sell a product? 2 Educational vs. commercial?
How does this purpose affect the credibility of the page? 2
Does the page present fact, opinion, or propaganda? 2
Does the author use other sources to support the information
presented? 2
Are there other viewpoints presented?
If the page is sponsored by a company or organization, could the
information be biased to promote a particular agenda or sell a
product? 2
Is there advertising on the page? Could the advertisers have
influence over the content of the page? 2
Audience
Who is this page for? Experts, novices, professionals, or
2
How does the intended audience effect the reliability of the
information? 2
Responsibility
Is this a personal vs. official association/ agency/institutional or other
organizational Web page?
Who wrote the page? 2
What is the author's background? Does this make him/her qualified
to write on the subject? 2
Have you seen this author's name in other sources? 2 (Include author
searches in scholarly/academic I databases. Other sources can be
reference resources like Who’s Who publications, Contemporary
Author, and other various biographical tools.)
Is the author affiliated with a larger institution? 2
Is there contact information for the author (e-mail as well as regular
mailing address)? 2
Who is the sponsor? 1
Is the sponsor of the page reputable? How reputable? 1
Is there a link to information about the author or the sponsor? 1
(Check resources like Associations Unlimited, World of Learning,
Directory of Associations, and other association directories.)
If the page includes neither a signature nor indicates a sponsor, is
there any other way to determine its origin1 (e.g. header or footer
showing affiliation; edu, .com, .gov, .net, .org, etc.; truncate back
the URL?)
C
e
Y/N
C
e
Coverage
Does the information on the page update, substantiate, or add new
information to what you have already found on your topic? 2
Is this primary or secondary information (based on primary
information)?
Is there any selection criteria for links included on the site? You will
need to assess the credibility of linked pages as well. 2
Does the page provide information that is not available in
2
Can you verify the information with another source? 2
What topics are covered? 1
What does this page offer that is not found elsewhere? 1
What is its intrinsic value? 1
How in-depth is the material? 1
Accuracy
Is the page free of grammatical, spelling, or typographical errors?
These type of errors may indicate that there are errors in the facts
as well. 2
Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information? 1
Currency
When was this page created? 2
When was it last updated? If done, when was the last update? 1
How current are the links? Have some expired or moved? Minimal
‘link rot.’ 1
Is the page current enough to meet the needs of your topic? 2
Reliability
Are the sources of information scholarly vs. personal opinion?
Are links to reputable sites / information?
Is copyright for other works respected, or are there indications of
plagiarism in the source?
Are references cited or bibliography included?
Check for external Web pages that link or contain a specific URL by
searching the [URL] at http://www.alltheweb.com. Find pages with 1 or
more links in Google by searching link:
References Cited
1. Beck, Susan E. The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: Evaluation Criteria Reference & Research Services Department, New Mexico
State University Library. Updated April 27, 2009. http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html. Accessed October 6,
2014.
2. Evaluating Internet Sources. Undergraduate Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Updated August 29,
2012. http://www.library.illinois.edu/ugl/howdoi/webeval.html. Accessed October 5, 2014.
Other Resources
Critically Analyzing Information Sources. Division of Reference Services, Olin Kroch Uris Libraries, Cornell University Library. Updated
May 5, 2015. http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/content/critically-analyzing-information-sources. Accessed October 6, 2014.
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet. The Sheridan Libraries of the Johns Hopkins University. 1996, updated
2010. http://guides.library.jhu.edu/evaluatinginformation. Accessed October 6, 2014.
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask. UC Berkeley – Teaching Library Internet Workshops.
1996, updated 1/4/2004.
Accessed October 6, 2014.
Five Criteria for Evaluating Web pages. Division of Reference Services, Olin Kroch Uris Libraries, Cornell University Library.
1998.
Accessed October 6, 2014.
Web Research Evaluation Checklist. University Libraries, University of Louisville. Updated February 18, 2003. http://
louisville.libguides.com/evaluation. Accessed October 6, 2014.
Reformatted October 6, 2014 from version originally created 2004,
by Melody Allison, Information Services