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How to Evaluate the Legitimacy of a Web Resource

Traditional print resources that have established guidelines, standards, and people who edit their books, but the web is somewhat untamed and free from these practices. Thus, it is important for you to verify the validity of information found on the web by considering the following questions.
  • Who wrote the information? What are the author's credentials? (Was the web page created by a group, an institution, or an individual?)
  • What is the bias of the web page? Is the information balanced?
  • Where does the web page reside?
  • When was the web page created?
  • How frequently is the material updated?
Look for Clues
Read the Home Page or main page of the web site carefully. Look for
• a link to information such as About this Site, Credits, Contact us, or For    More Information
• an e-mail address and send a message with your questions
• a link to an FAQ, or frequently asked questions place on the web site
Analyze the URL
URLs tell you where a page resides. You can often guess the university or government agency just by analyzing the web address.
.com = company
.edu = a university or college
.gov = branch of the federal, state, or local government
.mil = branch of the U.S. military
.net = internet service facility or internet provider
.org = not-for-profit organization
Example
This URL is from the University of Virginia: http://www.uva.edu
(www=world wide web; uva = University of Virginia; edu is the suffix for educational insitutions)

This URL is also from UVA: http://avery.med.virginia/edu/~ease5e/Irish/Famine.html
A tilde, ~, as part of a URL, means that the page is assigned to or created by an individual. The individual could be:
*an authority in his field with pages posted at a university
*someone with a hobby interested in a particular subject
*a student with a web page at a site like GeoCities, or
*anyone in the world who has decided to post information on a web page
Web Site Authority and Date Created Verification Tips

To find out who created the page and the last time the page was modified (if this information is not present on the website):

Go to: http://www.allwhois.com

Type the web page URL you need information about into the box under the heading “Check Any Domain in the World”
Click on Search and scroll down to read the information in the Whois Output box.

OR,

Go to the Google search engine (http://www.google.com). Type info:and the URL into the search bar. For example: info:www.iecc.edu

Internet Explorer: Select Properties from File Menu.
Creation and modification information will appear in the Properties dialog box.

Netscape: Click on View in the tool bar and select Document Information.
The lower frame on the displayed page will contain modification information.

(If this information is unobtainable, use the date that you accessed the site for your bibliographic citations. Check with your instructor to see if the site is acceptable to use in your work.)