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Website Evaluation Criteria Worksheet
Parts of a Web Address
The following web address is the homepage of professor Arthur R.
Butz, an engineering professor at Northwestern University. Professor Butz is
able to use the University's web server for his personal viewpoints and
is the author of a site on Holocaust revisionism, or denial. This address is
used as an example to help identify parts of a web address that indicate a personal
site, although it is part of the University site.
To view the actual website of Professor Butz, click here: http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz/index.html
(Name
of website)
Home Page of Arthur R. Butz |
Parts of the
Web Address
http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz/index.html
|
| http:// |
pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/ |
~abutz/ |
index.html |
|
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
The language protocol computers use to send webpages
|
The Domain Name
The term pubweb indicates a personal web space
|
The Directory or Folder Name
The tilde (~) indicates a personal webpage
|
The Filename of the Webpage
|
Use the form below to help evaluate an unfamiliar website to determine if
it is appropriate to use for your research.
- Write the name of your website address below and identify each
part.
- Identify any part of the address that may suggest a personal website.
Note: If a website appears to be a personal site, it does not necessarily
mean that it is an invalid or poor site; it means that you need to be aware of
this and take extra care in evaluating this site.
(Name of
website)
|
| Parts of the Web Address |
| http:// |
|
|
|
|
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
|
|
|
|
Evaluate your website using the following questions as a guide:
Authorship
- Who is the author?
- Is there a way to contact the author (e-mail address)?
- Can you determine the author's credentials (background)? Does the author
appear to have authority (appropriate background) to speak on this subject?
Objectivity
- Is the information biased? A website may by biased if the information
presented is misleading, prejudiced, or attempts to hide the full story.
- Does the identity of the author indicate a bias? (example: a tobacco
company presenting information on the dangers of smoking)
- Are there any sponsors? Is there any advertising?
Currency
- When was this site first published?
- When was the site last modified?
- Are the links working?
Purpose
- Why was this website created? What is the real purpose for the site? It
may not be obvious. Some websites may have more than one purpose.
- Look for an About this site link and try to identify the type of
site. Write a brief description below.
Description:
Check the type of site below. You can check more than one if appropriate.
Type of site:
______Informational (objective)
______Commercial (business/marketing)
______Persuasion (sells ideas, attempts to influence)
______Educational
______Entertainment
______Personal (published by an individual; may be associated with a larger
institution)
______Hoax (not what it appears to be; a joke)
Accuracy
- Are there any source citations or bibliography?
- Are there any spelling or grammatical errors?
- Investigate the links. Do they point to other reliable sources, or are
they all internal links that are part of the website?
- The link: command is used to locate sites that point to or link
to a site. Type the link: command in the Google or Altavista search engine box
to identify the sites pointing to your website. Copy and paste
the web address after the link: command and then click Search. What
kinds of websites point to your site? What do these connections
reveal about the site?
Conclusion
In your opinion, is this a valid website to use in a research paper? Why or
why not?