Website Evaluation: Start Here!

There are several similar ways to remember the criteria for evaluating websites. Click on the Title of each for more explanation and a PDF handout.

CRAAP (Cal State Universiy-Chico)

• Currency
• Relevance
• Authority
• Accuracy
• Purpose

5 Questions (Univ. of California, Berkeley
Click here for a checklist.  

• What can the URL tell you? (domain, publisher)
• Answer these questions- scan perimeter of page (about us, philosophy, background, biography, currency, credentials, etc.)
• Look for indicators of quality information (links, documentation/footnotes, credibility)
• What do others say? (linking pages, listed in a reputable directory, what others say about the author)
• Does it all add up? (why was page put on web, purpose, is this as reliable as resource as you would find in a library?)

Check out these other sites with tutorials on website evaluation. There are many other good tutorials and websites available.

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• John Hopkins Sheridan Libraries
• Ohio State University
• Stanford Web Credibility Research Project
• Wolfgram Memorial Library, Widener University
• Write Online.ca (CRAAP chart)

For evaluating Medical and Health information, see also:

• Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine
• Medline Plus guide for "Evaluating Health Information"
• Evaluating Health Websites (for consumers)