5-star rating

•   Professional Journals - Often viewed via a paid database
  • Because these have been written and reviewed by professionals & include excellent references

   

4-star rating

• Government sites (ending with .gov)
  • Because they are written by professional government writers for informational purposes. They do not tend to have a biased pitch and are not promoting specific products

3-star rating

• Popular Publications (magazines, newspapers)
  • Because these are reviewed for accuracy before before being published. Writers refer to primary sources and professional journals

2-star rating

• Education sites  (ending with .edu)
  • Because these are written by professional educators, they tend to be good sources; however, graduate students and others with less training also publish under .edu sites and information becomes less reliable.

   

lone star

• Dot Com and Dot net sites
  • Because anybody can purchase and publish on these web pages, information may not be as accurate or may tend to promote a particular product or agenda.  These pages may not undergo the strict review process of other publications.

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• 5-Point Checklist for quality web sites:
  1. Authority:
     • Is it known who is responsible for the site and can the source be reached for further information (email link, phone, or mailing address)? Are the author's credentials clear?
  2. Sources: 
     • When appropriate are sources of information included ?
     • Are well-chosen and well-organized  links provided to corroborate and further research the information?
  3. Impartiality: 
     • Does the web page have a one-sided  imbalanced agenda, or does it present an unbiased overview of the issue? Is the page trying to sell you anything , to make you join an organization, a listserv, or email listing? Does it remind you of a television infomercial
  4. Quality: 
     • Does it look professional and up-to-date? Are there any obvious typos or errors? Do links work? Is it easy to navigate ? Do you need special software or browsers?
  5. Currency:
     • Is the page up-to-date or is it dusty and stale because information  is outdated? Are the links updated? Do the links work? 

• Three Rivers handout created by Mona Florea (2006)
• Cornell University "Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages"
• Milton Library at Johns Hopkins University Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
• UC Berkeley Teaching Library Critical Evaluation of Resources