Evaluating Webpage Worksheet

Evaluating a Webpage Worksheet

Use critical thinking skills to answer the questions below about a webpage.

1. What is the URL for the website that you are evaluating?

2. What is the title of the webpage that you are evaluating?

3. What type of institution (organization, university, government, commercial, etc.) supports this page? HINT: Look at the ending of the server name on the address (URL).

4. Who is the personal author and/or organizational author of the page? Hint: Try clicking on the author or click on a link that says "about us".

5. According to the webpage, what are the author and/or organization’s credentials? Are they qualified to write about the topic? How can you verify these credentials?

6. Read the information on the webpage and follow the links. Does the information appear to be biased? For example, if the author is from an institution, does the author’s affiliation with this particular institution appear to bias the information? Are both sides of any issue or opinion represented or just one side? Are there other ways it is biased, for example by the omission of information? Give a detailed answer.

Alameda College Library, 2007. 2

7. When was the information created? Last updated?

8. What is the purpose of this web page? Is it to inform, explain, and/or persuade?

o Inform – just gives information o Explain – tries to justify actions or theories o Persuade – tries to convince you to take action

9. Do you notice any spelling or grammatical errors?

10. Search for articles related to the author, organization and/or topic in the proprietary article database called Expanded Academic ASAP (Infotrac). Hint: for any mention of the author or organization create a search using the Basic Search screen (click on Home) and then mark the button to search “Entire document.”

A. What did you search for? How many articles did you find?

B. Do the articles from the database seem to support the information found on the website that you are evaluating? Explain.

C. Do the articles give any background on the author, organization and/or topic. Do they suggest any bias the author or organization might have? Explain.

11. Overall, do you feel that this web page is an accurate source of information? Give a detailed explanation.

Alameda College Library, 2007.