Evaluating websites

Quick Guide

When you encounter any kind of source, consider:

Authority

• Who is the author?

• What else has the author written?

• In which communities and contexts does the author have expertise?

  • Does the author represent a particular set of world views? 

  • Do they represent specific gender, sexual, racial, political, social and/or cultural orientations?

  • Do they privilege some sources of authority over others?

  • Do they have a formal role in a particular institution (e.g. a professor at Oxford)? 

Purpose

• Why was this source created?

  • Does it have an economic value for the author or publisher? 

  • Is it an educational resource? Persuasive?

    • What (research) questions does it attempt to answer?

    • Does it strive to be objective?

  • Does it fill any other personal, professional, or societal needs?

• Who is the intended audience?

  • Is it for scholars?

  • Is it for a general audience?

Publication & format

• Where was it published?

• Was it published in a scholarly publication, such as an academic journal?

  • Who was the publisher? Was it a university press?

  • Was it formally peer-reviewed?​

• Does the publication have a particular editorial position?

  • Is it generally thought to be a conservative or progressive outlet?

  • Is the publication sponsored by any other companies or organizations? Do the sponsors have particular biases?

• Were there any apparent barriers to publication?

  • Was it self-published?

  • Were there outside editors or reviewers?

• Where, geographically, was it originally published, and in what language?

• In what medium?

  • Was it published online or in print? Both?

  • Is it a blog post? A YouTube video? A TV episode? An article from a print magazine?

    • What does the medium tell you about the intended audience? 

    • What does the medium tell you about the purpose of the piece?

Relevance

• How is it relevant to your research?

  • Does it analyze the primary sources that you're researching?

  • Does it cover the authors or individuals that you're researching, but different primary texts?

  • Can you apply the authors' frameworks of analysis to your own research?

• What is the scope of coverage?

  • Is it a general overview or an in-depth analysis?

  • Does the scope match your own information needs?

  • Is the time period and geographic region relevant to your research?

Date of publication

• When was the source first published?

• What version or edition of the source are you consulting?

  • Are there differences in editions, such as new introductions or footnotes?

  • If the publication is online, when was it last updated?

• What has changed in your field of study since the publication date? 

• Are there any published reviews, responses or rebuttals?

Documentation

• Did they cite their sources?

  • If not, do you have any other means to verify the reliability of their claims?

• Who do they cite?

  • Is the author affiliated with any of the authors they're citing?

  • Are the cited authors part of a particular academic movement or school of thought?

• Look closely at the quotations and paraphrases from other sources:

  • Did they appropriately represent the context of their cited sources?

  • Did they ignore any important elements from their cited sources?

  • Are they cherry-picking facts to support their own arguments?

  • Did they appropriately cite ideas that were not their own?

                                                                         Berkeley Library