Website Checklist

Name: __________________________________________________________________________

Topic Choice: ____________________________________________________________________

Website of Choice: ________________________________________________________________

Directions: Ask yourself these questions about each Internet source you find. You should be able to answer yes to all or most of these.

___________________________ Is this site an .edu, .org, .gov, or .mil site? These are the sties which are generally the most reliable ones. Commercial (.com) sites generally contain advertising and areicle which may be slanted one way or another.

___________________________ Is the author a well-known expert, perhaps connected with an established institution? Remember, anyone can put anything on the Internet, so you do not want ot believe something just because it is online any more than you want to believe somthing just becuase it is in print.

___________________________ Is the publisher a university, professional organizations, government agency, or well-know publisher? Avoid publishers that exist only on the INternet. There are so-called vanity publishers on the Internet whom people pay to publish their material. There are also organizations such as cults and other groups that establish websites just to promote their own philosophies.

___________________________ Do the hyperlinks given take you to educational sites?

__________________________ Is a bibliography provided which shows high quality sources?

__________________________ Does the site provide quality sources that you can check out for yourself?

__________________________ Is there a recent publication date showing that the information is current?

__________________________ Is the information given based on facts that than the opinions of the author? Remember that anyone can pu anything on the Internet without having to back up what he/she says with factual information. Beware of information that is clearly written to persuade you into believing what the author wants you to believe.

__________________________ Is the information written for people who are seriously interested? Beware of infomration you get from chat rooms, blogs, and/or wikis.

Checklist is taken from :

Robbins, Mari Lu. How to Write A Research Report--Grades 6-8. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials, Inc., 1999. Print.

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