Website Evaluation

"The Truth is Out There...Question EVERYTHING you FIND!!!”

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?)

Website Evaluation Sites

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

• John Hopkins Sheridan Libraries
• 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"