STUDENT WRITING Teaching Students to Write Research Papers Evaluating Websites

When using websites to conduct research, consider the following:

• If the authorship and the sponsorship of a site are both unclear, be extremely suspicious of the site.
  
  
• Is there an author? (check the home page or about this site ling)
  
  
• Can you tell whether the author is knowledgeable and creditable?
  
  
• Who, if anyone, sponsors the site?
  
  
• What does the domain tell you? The domain often specifies the type of group hosting the site: Commercial (.com), educational (.edu), nonprofit (.org), governmental (.gov), military (.mil), or network (.net)
  
  
• Why was the site created? to argue a position? To sell a product? to inform readers?
  
  
• Who is the site’s intended audience?
  
  
• How current is the site?
  
  
• How current are the site’s links?