There are billions of websites on the internet. Many are useful and may provide excellent information for your research topic, while others contain inaccurate and dubious claims. This page has helpful tools to evaluate and weed out the good sites from the not so godd and the very bad ones.
Use the CRAAP Test to evaluate a website.
CRAAP
Currency/Timeliness
Relevance
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose
CURRENCY OR TIMELINESS
When was the information published?
When was it last updated?
Does your topic require the most up to date information?
Are the links working?
RELEVANCE
Is this the information that you need for your topic?
Who is the audience for this information?
Is this information too advanced, too basic or just the right educational level?
Is it the type of information that you need i.e. statistics, primary source, secondary source, peer reviewed, etc?
AUTHORITY
Who is the author/publisher/source of this information?
Is there an About Us page on the website?
What are the author’s credentials? Is s/he an expert on this topic?
Can you contact the author/publisher?
What is the domain URL? .edu, .org, .net, .gov, .com
ACCURACY
Where does the information come from?
Are there links to other resources?
Can you verify this information with another source?
Are there spelling, grammar or typographical errors?
PURPOSE
What is the purpose of the information? Educate? Entertain? Sell?
Is the information fact or opinion?
Is the information trying to sell a product or service?
Are there political, religious, cultural or other biases present?