Download Evaluating Web sites

Directions:

1. Read Widener University's "Evaluate Web Pages Tutorial" or Teaching Undergrads Web Evaluation. Take note of the definitions of "Authority," "Accuracy," "Objectivity," "Currency" and "Coverage."
    
2. Your teacher will assign you to a group of three students, giving each student a letter. Each letter corresponds to a category or categories, as follows:
   

   A:	Authority and Accuracy
   O:	Objectivity
   C:	Currency and Coverage

   
    
3. Working independently, visit each of the designated Web sites and evaluate each Web site based on the assigned category or categories. Assign a score to each site from 0-3 in your assigned category or categories (with 1 being the lowest and 3 being the highest, or best score). Use the following guidelines in your scoring process:
   

   0	does not meet the criteria
   1	meets some of the criteria
   2	meets most of the criteria relevant to this particular site
   3	meets or exceeds the relevant criteria for this particular site

   
    
4. When you are finished, share your findings with the other members of your group and explain why you gave each site the score that you did. Then add up the total of points each site received (from all group members) and write the total score in the last column.
   
   

   	Authority	Accuracy	Objectivity	Currency	Coverage	Total
   Web site #1
   Web site #2
   Web site #3
   Web site #4

Questions to Consider

1. Was the Web site with the highest score the "best" site? What made it a good site?

2. Would you use the Web sites? Why or why not?

3. Is there any value in using the Web site that received the lowest score? Why or why not?

4. How will the process of evaluating these Web sites assist you in understanding the related case?

5. How will you use this Web site evaluation guide in the future?

Additional Resources for Evaluating Web sites:

Authenticating Online Information
The ABA's National Online Youth Summit - Evaluating Web Resources
How to Tell if You Are Looking at a Great Site