Evaluating Websites

Scope

One consideration in the quality of a website is how comprehensive it is. Does it examine an issues from many sides? Is it broad in scope, or narrow? Does it include only opinion, or does it draw upon other research to make its argument?

EPA climate change site

The scope of a scholarly article will be broader than a newspaper article. The scope of a long essay that contains references to other literature will be broader than an editorial or opinionated blog post. In some cases, depending upon your assignment, it can be ok for a piece of information to be narrow in scope. For instance, if you are being asked to find examples of arguments for or against an opinion, an editorial or blog post can be appropriate--but here, remember to consider the authority (link) of the source.

Some websites are very thorough and include in-depth information on a variety of topics. Others are more shallow. Take a look at Global Warming Facts .info site; it has exactly four pages, all of them very general in nature. There just isn't much there. Compare this to the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Change page. Which is more worth your time?

Originality

Remember also that information can travel on the Web. In fact, many Website owners now actively encourage users to copy or embed their content into other blogs or websites. Some blogs consist entirely of material copied from elsewhere; other sites embed Wikipedia articles as their content. If a site is simply a collection of material that exists elsewhere, don't cite it in your paper; go to the original source.

Purpose

Global Warming .info site

Try to determine what the main purpose of the site is. Is it to promote a cause? To sell a product? To entertain? Take another look at Global Warming .info and think about why the site is most likely there.

The presence of ads doesn't mean that you shouldn't trust a site. After all, newspapers and scholarly journals carry ads and generate profits for their publishers. But there are a lot of sites in which supposedly informative content seems to be there only to generate ad revenue.