This document provides tips for evaluating the reliability and credibility of websites. It recommends checking for information about the author such as credentials, checking the domain type (e.g. .edu, .gov), publisher, date last updated, documentation of sources, references and links, copyright information, bias, what other sites say about it using tools like Alexa, and searching for the author online. Some key signs of unreliable sites include lack of author information, outdated content, broken links, lack of sourcing or copyright permissions.

1. Are you Internet
Savvy or an Internet
Sucker?
Be suspicious!

2. Check the URL for personal sites.
 Look for a personal name (e.g., cballard or
ballard) following a tilde ( ~ ), a percent
sign ( % ), or the words "users,"
"members," or "people."
 Is the server a commercial ISP* or other
web page host (like yahoo.com)

3. What if it is a personal site?
 All personal sites are not bad.
 Can you find the author?
 Check the information you find about the
author. Is this an expert or a hobbyist?
How do you know?
 Does the information on the site match the
information you find in other reliable
sources?

4. Check for information about the
author.
 Does the site have a page called About
Us? Contact Us?
 Does the site give details about the author?
 Does the site list the author’s credentials?
(Key words: Resume, Curriculum Vitae or
CV, for short)

5. If author information is scant:
 If there is no author, don’t rely on the site
for a research source.
 If there is an author with little information,
send a polite email request for more
information about his credentials, or don’t
rely on the site.

6. Check the domain.
 Domain is after the period in the URL
 Government sites: look for .gov, .mil, .us, .uk or
other country code
 Educational sites: look for .edu
 Nonprofit organizations: look for .org
 Networks: look for .net (Some networks are
better than others.)
 Does the domain match the content?

7. Check the publisher.
 Comes between the http:// or http://www.
and the domain (.edu, .org, .gov, etc.).
Example: www.pbs.org. PBS is the
publisher.
 Have you ever heard of this publisher?
 Does it match the name of the website? If
so, that is a good sign.

8. Is the site updated and current?
 Look for the date "last updated" - usually at
the bottom of a web page.
 Check the date on all the pages on the site.

9. Check the dates.
 If the information given is time-sensitive,
make sure the page is recent.
 If the page has not been updated in a
while, look for another source.

10. Check the documentation.
 A good indicator that the site is well done is
documentation of sources used by the
author of the website.
 Does the author list sources or tell where
the information came from?

11. Check the references and links.
 If references are given, check them for
authenticity. Have you heard of this source
before?
 Sources can be faked.
 Do the links on the page take you to other
reliable websites?
 Are the links broken? A lot of broken links
may be a sign that the page is not being
updated.

12. Check copyright information.
 Is the page copyrighted? This usually
appears at the bottom of the home page.
 If the page contains information from other
sites, does it list copyright permissions to
use their materials?

13. Check for bias.
 Does the site present more than one side
of an issue?

14. What do others say of the site?
 Use alexa.com:
 Paste the url into alexa.com's search box.
 You can view various forms of information about this site
which may help you determine its reliability.

15. Do a link: search in Google
 INSTRUCTIONS:
 1. Copy the URL of the page you might want to use.
 2. In Google, type link: in the search box.
 3. Paste the URL of the investigated site into the search box
immediately following link: (no space after the colon).
 The pages listed all contain one or more links to the page you are
looking for.
 Do the sites that link to this one look credible?

16. Search for the author in Google:
 Sometimes you can find information about
the author on the web.

17. Hoax Sites
 There are some attractive sites that are
entirely made up. They look good but are
jokes or sometimes are malicious.
 http://www.thedogisland.com/
 http://bigredhair.com/boilerplate/
 http://www.license.shorturl.com/