Evaluating Web Pages
Authority
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Sponsorship - Is the site run by the ACLU, the KKK, or the University of Alaska?
- What can you determine about the reputation of the sponsor or the publisher or about the reputation of the editor(s), author(s), contributors?
- Check College Blue Book, United States Government Manual, or Encyclopedia of Associations to verify status, if not reputation.
- Examine authors' personal web pages or listings for individuals within the website of their organization or institution. Consult Directory of American Scholars and other background sources as appropriate.
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Dates
- What is the frequency, or how often is the work revised? How current is the material? Is the site even dated?
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References
- Are there footnotes, a bibliography, or other evidence of scholarly apparatus?
- Is the data documented or merely opinion?
Purpose
- Is the site selling a product or service?
- Is it an opinion site trying to convert people to their point of view?