Assessing the Validity of Websites

Before you begin, it might help to clarify the subject matter and range of the information you are interested in finding. Answering these questions before you begin may help you with your search.

 

-          Are government or legal sources the primary materials you want to reference?

-          Is the information you need specific to a particular geographic area such as provincial laws annual rainfall charts?

-          Why are you looking at websites -- personal research, links for another website, or general interest?

Then look at the website with a critical eye, and with the following questions in mind:

1.      Content:

a.       What is this site about?

b.        Whom is it made for? Is the ‘stated intent’ of this website clear? Does the       subject matter match the stated intent?

c.        How comprehensive is the site? Is the information that is presented thorough?

d.        Is the language elementary, advanced, very technical or specific to a discipline (for example, medical or legal terminology)?

e.        What is the range of the information covered? Is it facts or opinion, does it offer a balanced or a particular view of the subject?

f.         Is the information well-researched and verifiable? Are there references or links to other information sites that add to the information? Are any assumptions made reasonable?

g.        Is there anything significant that has been left out?

h.        How does the site compare to similar sites? Does it repeat the same information or offer a new perspective?

i.          Is there unique information or does the site mainly provide links to other sites?

j.          Is there advertising on the site, and does it impact in any way on the information that is presented? Is the site basically a marketing tool with no real informational value?

k.        What kind of information is provided in the site links and are they relevant and appropriate to the original site? Is there some information on the content of the links or is it necessary to go to the new location to find out what kind of information it contains?

  1. Authority:
    1. Who developed this site? Who is the author or producer? Is there information, such as a biography, credentials, an About the author link on the home page, or an email address?
    2. Who produced this particular document or page of information? This may not be the same person who developed the overall site, and the reliability of the information may change, for better or for worse.
    3. Does an individual or an organization present the site? If set up by an individual, what is the reason? Does the individual have a stated interest and/or qualifications in the subject area? Can this be verified?
    4. If an organization or institution produces the site, is the vision statement or mission statement provided? What are the basic values and goals of the organization or institution? Is there a way of verifying if they are a valid organization?
    5. Is the author/producer associated with other reputable institutions or organizations?
    6. Is contact information, such as the address, telephone number and email address available? If not, why not? Is the contact information there to encourage feedback and questions? If you are required to give personal information before you can get more information from the site, proceed cautiously. This could be a marketing ploy and result in your receiving unwanted and unasked for advertising. It could also lead to security issues – for reasons of personal safety, always be extremely careful when asked for personal information.
  2. Accuracy and Timeliness:
    1. Is it clear if the site has been updated recently? A lot of Internet content is on developing issues and current information may be important.
    2. Are the links up to date?
    3. Is the site well written, following the basic rules of grammar, spelling and composition? Errors in grammar and spelling can actually result in inaccurate information being presented, and indicate a lack of quality control.
    4. Are sources of factual information clearly listed?
  3. Accessibility:
    1. Does the site download quickly or offer a text-only version if many graphics are used?
    2. Is attention paid to the needs of people with disabilities? Do images also have "alt tags" or is a text-only version available? There are devices that can read text out loud for people who are visually impaired; attention to the requirements of text-readers is essential.
    3. Are passwords or fees required to look at the information?
    4. Size of the site – is information easily found or buried deeply within the site?
    5. Is the site easy to navigate– are graphics clear, pages laid out logically and do icons clearly represent the information contained within the page?
    6. Is there a site map, a way to search the site, or clear commands to move around the site (commands to move back, forward, home, next page, etc.)?

 Research:

Using the Internet as a source for research material requires careful evaluation of the resources found. Be especially aware of the first three areas noted: content, authority and accuracy. Look at more than one source of information to obtain a variety o fviewpoints. Opinions may be presented as facts; be aware of the difference. If you are using the Internet to collect research for a school project, make sure you know what type of resources you can use; are newspaper articles, magazine articles or popular websites allowed? Be sure of where the information comes from. If an article quotes facts and figures, but doesn’t tell you where the facts and figures came from, proceed carefully.

A note about URLs:

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) are Internet addresses. Here’s how they are constructed:

Transfer protocol://servername.domain/directory/subdirectory/filename.filetype

All URLs must have the first two elements: transfer protocol and servername.domain (for example: http://www.metrac.org)

    • The transfer protocol most often seen is ‘http’ (hypertext), the standard format on the World Wide Web; other protocols less commonly seen include ‘ftp’, and ‘gopher’.
    • The 'servername.domain' is the computer where the website resides. Not all server names begin with ‘www’. The domain name can contain valuable information on where the information is coming from – in Canada and the US, three letter domain types are commonly used. Examples include: government body (gov), educational institutions (edu), not-for-profit organizations (org), commercial enterprise (com), and military body (mil). Two letter country codes (e.g. ‘ca’ for Canada, ‘uk’ for United Kingdom) are used, but not consistently, and rarely in the U.S. In the United Kingdom, there are two domain types preceding the country code: academic organizations (ac) and commercial organizations (co). Check the sites listed in Additional Resources and see what information is contained in the URLs.
    • One way of trying to find out more about the site under evaluation is to backtrack on the URL to the servername.domain address, and see if it is a homepage.
    • A site located on a University server does not guarantee its content or validity. Many universities give their students and faculty space on their server to design a personal Web page.
    • Often (but not always!) a tilde (~) in an address will be a marker for a personal page.