This document provides tips for students to evaluate the reliability and credibility of websites. Younger students may not be ready to evaluate all websites and should start with sites their teachers or librarians have vetted as accurate. Students can visit intentionally fake sites to learn how to spot inaccuracies, and should evaluate sources by checking author credentials and affiliations, looking at publication dates, and paying attention to URLs and requests for personal information. With practice, students will build a list of trusted sites to use for future research.

1. By: Kim Reynolds
2012

2. How can your student learn to spot a
phony, biased, or outdated website?
Here are activities, as well as tips for
your student to sharpen his or her
research skills.

3. Younger students under grade six may
not be ready to surf the vast “open
Web.” They do not have the
knowledge base to know if what they
are finding is reliable, authoritative,
and may not understand what bias is
all about. Research and provide links
to sites you know are accurate.

4. Take a peek at www.allaboutexplorers.com,
an intentionally fake research site in which
the biographies of explorers are riddled
with factual errors. Browse the stories at
the mock site www.theonion.com and
figure out which pieces of an article aren’t
true.

5. One way to approach bias is to teach
about advertisements and persuasion.
To demonstrate to students, Create a
Web page about a topic you know
well, and then use it to persuade
others.

6. Always ask the question: “Who wrote
this?” Click on the “About Us” page
for more information. Find a “byline,”
or the line attributing an article to an
author. Scan the bottom of a website
for a person or organization’s
name, and then Google it.

7. Brainstorm proven leaders in the
subject you are researching and take
note of their organization and
affiliations they have. If you’re
writing a report on gorillas, for
instance, find out what organizations
Jane Goodall has worked with. Check
out their websites for further
information and links to even more
resources.

8. Use this free and friendly
resource. Our librarian subscribes to
several great databases of
information and students have access
to these from home.
https://godleyisd.follettdestiny.com/
common/servlet/presenthomeform.do
?l2m=Home&tm=Home&l2m=Home

9. Check the URL and pay attention to fishy
addresses. Always check your spelling for a
typo. It’s not always effective to look at
the domain – .com, .net, .org, .mil, .gov –
as a way to determine bias or authenticity.
Except for mil , .gov and k12.us, anyone
can have any domain. Also, a site that asks
for personal information to access a free,
public site may not be legit.

10. Most websites, especially frequently
updated ones, display a “last
updated” date or a year the site was
created. If you see a date that’s a
decade old (or more), it's wise to find
a site with more recently written
content (posted within the last
several years).

11.  If you put a phrase in double quotes (“) Google will search for the
complete phrase.
EX: Wizard of Oz will search for any and all words.
“Wizard of Oz” will search for all words together.
 If you use a minus sign, you can exclude words from a search.
EX: basketball shoes –nike
 Put a plus to exclude synonyms from searches
EX: +auto will exclude words like car & truck
 Use site: to only search certain domains
EX: site:wikipedia.comscience will only search
wikipedia.com for science information.
 Search for a domain host
EX: host:k12.tx.us will search for schools in Texas

12. Over time, build a list of tried-and-
true websites. Take note of the best
websites on animals, history, sports,
the environment, or current events,
and return to this list when necessary.
You will build your knowledge of the
Internet, and learn which sites are
reliable.