Evaluating Internet Sites

Many history web sites are relatively objective pages covering their subject matter in an evenhanded and professional manner. Other web sites are quite biased and present rather extreme views of the past. Some web sites are shameless attempts at convincing you to buy something. Others are thinly veiled attempts at self-promotion on the part of the author. In order to successfully use the internet as a source for your Colorado History Day project you must be prepared to think critically about the kinds of information you will find out there on the Internet. As many of you already know, just because the information can be found on the Internet does not automatically mean that it is true! Some of the citeria for evaluating a history web site include, but certainly are not limited to the following.

Criteria for Evaluating a Web Site

Author

Is it clear who authored the page, does the author indicate an institutional affiliation or sponsor? Is the author a qualified historian or musuem curator, or a student putting his or her term paper on the internet?

Bias

Does the author or sponsor of the site indicate that it may be biased? For example, is the environmental history site you are looking at sponsored by Shell Oil Company or the Nature Conservancy?

Citations

Does the author of the page cite the sources that were drawn upon for the information included on the page? If not, strongly consider not using this site.

Dates

As with printed sources, sometimes more recently published books are more authoritative and represent the most up-to-date scholarship. Does the author of the web page note the dates it has been revised or updated? Does the web page represent the most current scholarship on the given subject?

Reviews

Has this site been reviewed by a teacher, a school, or some other type of institution or agency for accuracy and truthfulness? For more information on library research in general or evaluating web sites specifically, Cornell University Library has put together a wonderful site outlining its "Seven Steps to Effective Library Research," one of which is evaluating web sites and the information found on them. Click here to go directly to the site: Seven Steps to Effective Library Research . Or, you can bypass the "Seven Steps" and go directly to their guidelines for web page evaluation.