The document provides guidance on evaluating the credibility of information found on websites by examining the authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage of the content. It lists questions to consider for each criterion, as well as clues to look for such as qualifications of the author, presence of ads or bias, date of publication, depth of information, and more. Users are also instructed to verify security certificates for sensitive sites, check website registration and contact details, and cross-reference content with other reliable sources.

1. Criteria for Examining the
Credibility of Information on
Web Sites
Information aggregated by
Jane Mitchinson-Schwartz

2. AUTHORITY
checking the qualifications and reputation of an author or source
Questions to ask:
• Who is providing the information?
• Is there personal contact information?
• What is the expertise of the author?
• Does the email domain match with the
internet domain?
• Has the site been verified by a reputable
authority certification company?

3. Security Certificate Check
For sites containing secure information such as mail servers, e-retail,
Banks, and charities, type an “s” after “http” to enable a check of the
security certificate.

4. Verisign and Thawte are two of the most widely used
certificate authorities

5. AUTHORITY
Clues to look for
 Registered site (whois.net or allwhois.net)
 411 and Mapquest on name and address
 use search engines to get links or other sites
 Email or postal site that can be verified
 Read author bios or “about us” links
 Check professional directories
 check certificate of authority

6. ACCURACY
error free and reliable information
Questions to ask:
• Does the information appear to contain a
minimum amount of bias?
• Is the information that has been selected
designed to sway the reader?
• Is there any advertising on this site? What
kind?
• Who else uses or links to this site?

7. ACCURACY
Clues to look for
 Writing that has been thoroughly checked is more likely to be written
by someone who has fact-checked their information as well.
 More than one person fact-checking is better than one.
 Check for a bibliography (paper trail) Check information against
other sources.

8. Accuracy
Questions to ask:
• Is the information free from grammatical,
spelling, and typographical errors?
• Is there a person in a higher-up position
such as an Editor who has checked the
work before it has been published to the
Internet?
• Can you cross-check the information with
other sources?

9. OBJECTIVITY
free of information/opinions based on emotion and prejudice
Clues to look for:
 Check whether you can detect emotion in the information or the way
it is presented. (bias)
 What is present in the article and what is missing?
 Advertising may cause a conflict of interest or it may boost
credibility.
 Do a check to see who has put this site in their own links.
www.google.com or www.yahoo.com
Type in the search window: Link (space) all or part of url

10. CURRENCY
how recent the information is and its usefulness to the present
Questions to ask:
• Is the page dated?
• When was the page last updated?
• How current are the links?

11. CURRENCY
Clues to look for
 Check at top of article or bottom of page. (display source code to
detect)
 Check for a revision date.
 Links that lead to expired pages mean the site hasn’t been updated
or checked on regularly.
Source code example
SiteCatalyst code version: H.9. Copyright 1997-2007 Omniture, Inc. More info
available at http://www.omniture.com -->

12. COVERAGE
the extent to which the information has been thoroughly
examined and presented
Questions to ask:
• How in depth is the information?
• Has anything been left out?
• How much of the information has been
published?

13. COVERAGE
Clues to look for
 Look for an index or site map, archives.
 Are there references to other resources for
getting the complete works?

14. Your Task:
• Go to martinlutherking.org
• Follow the tips outlined step by step in the
handout on checking credibility to assess
the credibility of this website.

15. Resources
• “Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages.” Cornell University Library. n.d. Web. 27 July
2011. <http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webcrit.html>
• Rowland, Robin. The Creative Guide to Research, Career Press, 2000.
• Gil, Paul. “How to Properly Research on the Internet.” Ask.com. Ask, July 2011. Web.
27 July 2011.
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/navigatingthenet/tp/How-to-Properly-Research-
Online.htm
• “Evaluating Web Pages.” UC Berkeley Library. n.d. Web. 27 July 2011. <http://
www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html>