Dunn Library

Web Searching - Evaluating Web Pages Handout

Web pages originate from a wide variety of sources. Individuals, organizations, commercial enterprises, educational institutions and governments are some of the sources of web information.

Print books and journals in libraries have been evaluated by faculty and librarians before being included in the collection. This does not apply to web resources unless you find them as a link from the library web pages. Examples of such sources at Dunn Library are the databases EBSCOhost and LexisNexis Academic which provide indexing and full-text access to magazines, newspapers and books. Since the information you find on the web varies greatly in quality, evaluation of web pages is very important.

When evaluating a web page ask yourself the following questions:

  • Who published the web page?
  • Who is the author of the content?
  • When was the content last updated? Is the information current?
  • Has the author documented his/her sources?
  • What is the purpose of the page?
  • Is the content biased or does it provide a balanced viewpoint?

Sources of detailed help in evaluating web pages:

How to Evaluate Web Pages-UC Berkeley Library

Last Updated: 8/11/09