The document provides guidance on evaluating websites for credibility and reliability to determine if they are appropriate sources to cite in a research paper. It outlines several criteria to consider, including assessing the author's credentials, accuracy and bias of the information, date of publication, documentation of sources, and purpose and intended audience of the site. Students are encouraged to think critically about the credibility of online information and not rely solely on free websites, but also use library databases and consult their teacher-librarian for source recommendations.

1. Is that Site
good enough to Cite?

2. There is so much information out there!

3. How are you going to know if a website is
good enough to use in your report?

4. It’s Okay to be Confused!
There are billions of websites
out there
Many of them are not worthy of
your time and don’t belong in
your bibliographies!
Sometimes it’s very hard to tell
treasure from trash
Sometimes Web developers
don’t want you to understand
the difference

5. Remember:
Anyone can publish
anything
on the Web!
It is your job, as a
researcher, to look
for quality!

6. Yeah, and how can
we be sure
our teacher will
think
it’s good
Okay, so how enough to cite?
do we know if
a site is good?

7. Think of CARRDSS
· CREDIBILITY / AUTHORITY
· ACCURACY
· RELIABILITY
· RELEVANCE
· DATE
· SOURCES BEHIND THE TEXT
· SCOPE AND PURPOSE

8. CREDIBILITY / AUTHORITY :
 Who is the author?
 What are his or her credentials? Education?
Experience? Affiliation?
 Does the author’s experience really qualify him or her as
an expert?
 Does he or she offer first-hand credibility? (For instance,
a Vietnam veteran or a witness to Woodstock?)
 Who actually published this page?
 Is this a personal page or is it part of the site belonging
to a major institution? (Clues pointing to a personal
page: ~ tilde, %, users, members)
 Is the page hosted by a free server like AOL, Tripod,
Geocities?

10. But what if I can’t
find any
author information?

11. Look for Credibility Clues!
· Words and phrases to look for:
· About us, Who Am I, FAQs, For More,
Company Information, Profiles, Our Staff,
Home
· E-mail the author
· If you have no information other than an e-mail
link, write a polite e-mail asking for more
information.

12. More Credibility Clues
(What do others think?)
Do a link check
· In Google type
link:siteaddress
· Your results will show which other sites have
chosen to link to this page. If respectable
institutions have linked to a site, that provides a
clue about the site’s credibility.
Does the site appear in major subject directories
like Librarian’s Index to the Internet (lii.org)?

13. Truncate the URL
Delete characters in the address line up to the
next slash mark to see if a main page offers
more information about who is responsible for
publishing the page you are interested in.
Go from:
·http://www.statecollege.edu/history/middleages/chaucer/smith.htm
·http://www.statecollege.edu/history/middleages/chaucer
·http://www.statecollege.edu/history/middleages
·http://www.statecollege.edu/history
·http://www.statecollege.edu

14. Still more Credibility Clues
If you have an author’s name but no further
information about credentials,
Search the name in quotation marks in a search
engine or online database
On the Web, include words like profile, resume, or
C.V. (curriculum vitae--an academic resume) to
narrow your name search
You might also include the name of a college or
association you can connect with the person
Search the name in biographical sources on- and
offline
Ask your teacher-librarian for help

15. ACCURACY:
 Can facts, statistics, or other information be
verified through other sources?
 Based on your knowledge, does the information
seem accurate? Is the information inconsistent
with information you learned from other sources?
 Is the information second hand? Has it been
altered?
 Do there appear to be errors on the page
(spelling, grammar, facts)?

16. R ELIABILITY:
 Does the source present a certain view or bias?
 Is the page affiliated with an organization that has
a particular political or social agenda?
 Is the page selling a product?
 Was the information found in a paid placement
or sponsored result from the search engine?
 Information is seldom neutral. Sometimes a bias
is useful for persuasive essays or debates.
 Understanding bias is important.

17. R ELEVANCE:
Does this information directly support my
hypothesis/thesis or help to answer my
question?
Can I eliminate or ignore it because it
simply doesn’t help me?

18. D ATE:
When was this information created?
When was it revised?
Are these dates meaningful in terms of your
information needs?
Has the author of the page stopped
maintaining it?
(Be suspicious of undated material.)

19. S OURCES BEHIND THE TEXT:
 Did the author bother to document his or her
sources and use reliable, credible sources?
 Were those references popular, scholarly,
reputable?
 Are those sources real? Have you or your
librarian heard of or been able to verify them?
 Is the material reproduced (accurately) from
another publication?
 What kind of links did the author choose?
 Are the hyperlinks reliable, valuable?
 Do the links work?

20. S COPE / PURPOSE:
Does this source address my
hypothesis/thesis/question in a
comprehensive or superficial way?
Is it a scholarly or popular treatment?
Is it material I can read and understand?
Is it too simple? Is it too challenging?
Who is the intended audience?
Why was this page created?
To inform or explain? To persuade? To sell?

21. What can you
learn from a URL?
You can use the end, or suffix of a domain
name to help you judge the validity of the
information and the potential bias of a
website.
This strategy is only a guideline. People
can easily purchase domains that do not
reflect their actual purpose.

22. URLs as clues to content
 .com = commercial sites  .mil = U.S. military site
(vary in their credibility)  .net = networked
 .gov = U.S. government service provider,
site Internet administrative
 .org = organization, site
often non-profit. Some  .museum = museum
have strong bias and  .name = individual
agendas Internet user
 .edu = school or  .biz = a business
university site (is it K-
12? By a student?  .pro = professional’s
By a scholar?) site
 ~ = personal site

23. What do their URLs reveal
about these sites?
http://personal.statecollege.edu/~ejv114/
http://www.fi.edu/wright/index.html
http://www.house.gov/house/Legproc.html
http://aolmembers.com/joyciev328/civalwarsong

24. Practice checking for
accuracy with a few of these
sites!
 California’s Velcro Crop Under Challenge
http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html
 Facts About Series
http://www.idiotica.com/cranium/encyclopedia/index.ht
m
 Republic of Cascadia: Bureau of Sasquatch Affairs
http://zapatopi.net/bsa.html
 Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
http://www.donotcall.gov/register/Reg.aspx
 For more examples:
http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/evaluating.html

25. Let’s Analyze this Site
California’s Velcro Crop Under
Challenge
http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcr
o.html

26. Web Page Evaluation Checklist
1. Go to Google and search a controversial topic, such as:
prions danger or nuclear armageddon or "stem cells" abortion
2. Use this Checklist to evaluate some of the search results.
Title of page you are evaluating: Title of page you are evaluating:
1. Look at the URL
 ~ or %, or users, members, or
Personal page or site? people
 ~ or %, or users, members, or people
What type of domain is it?  co  org/ne edu 
m t  co  org/ne edu  gov/mil/us
m t
gov/mil/us  non-US________  non-US________
Appropriate for the content?  other:  other:
Published by entity that makes sense? Publisher or Domain Name entity: Publisher or Domain Name entity:
Does it match the name of the site?
2. Scan the perimeter of the page
 E-mail  Name:  E-mail  Name:
Who wrote the page?
Dated? Date ________ Current enough? Date ________ Current enough?
Credentials on this subject? Evidence? Evidence?
(Truncate back the URL if no useful links.)
3. Examine the content
Sources well documented?
Complete? If 2nd-hand information, is
it not altered or forged?
Links to more resources? Do they
work?
Evidence of bias?
4. What do others say?
Many or few links? Many or few links?
Who links to it? Opinions expressed? Opinions expressed?
Hint: In Google search: link:all.or.part.of.url
Is the page rated well in a directory?
www.lii.org or infomine.ucr.edu or about.com
Which blogs link to it? What do
they say? blogsearch.google.com
Look up the author in Google
5. Does it all add up?
Why was the page put on the Web?  Inform  Persuade  Sell  Inform  Persuade  Sell
Other: Other:
Possibly ironic? Satire or parody?
BOTTOM LINE: Is the web page appropriate for your purpose?
Teaching Library, UC Berkeley – Spring 2008

27. Remember, the free Web
is not your only choice?
Did you use print sources?
Did you search subscription
databases?
Did you check with your teacher-
librarian for advice?

28. What about Wikipedia?
What is it? Where does the information
come from?
When does it make sense to use it?
When are other sources better choices?

29. So, why should we care
about all of this?

30. There are bigger questions in life!
You will be using information to
make important decisions!
Which car should I buy?
Which doctor should I choose?
Should my child have this surgery?
Should I take this medication?
· You want to be able to ensure the
information you choose is reliable, credible,
current, balanced, relevant, and accurate!