Evaluating Resources - Web Sites

"Caveat Emptor" - The Latin phrase is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary(OED) as follows:

" caveat emptor [lit., let the purchaser beware], let the purchaser examine the article he is buying before the bargain is completed, so that in case of disappointment after purchase he may not blame the seller."

The Web offers a wealth of information on every topic and subject matter imaginable. You can retrieve this information anytime of the day, granted you have access to a computer and the Internet. Unfortunately, a good portion of the Web's information is unorganized and unreliable. Therefore, it is critical that you use the evaluation concepts discussed in Evaluating Resources-Overview when dealing with Web resources. Listed below are some basics to consider when evaluating Web pages:

Basic Web Evaluation Techniques | Important Web Facts | Additional Resources

Basic Web Evaluation Techniques

Always check to see if the web site has a discernable author.

Unlike books and periodicals which almost always provide the names of authors, Web sites often do not list the creator of the pages. If you come across a Web page that has information about your topic but does not have an author, it is recommended that it not be used as a source for your assignment.
Pay close attention to the URL and domain name of a Web site.
The URL or Uniform Resource Locator is the "address" of the Web site, while the domain name ( .com, .gov, etc..) is used in the URL to identify the source or purpose of the Web site. For example:

.gov - Government agencies
.edu - Educational institutions
.org - Organizations (nonprofit)
.mil - Military
.com - commercial business
.net - Network organizations
For scholarly research try to use Web sites with .edu,.gov, and .org domains. Use Web sites with .com domain with careful discretion as it is difficult to determine their origin. Also, when browsing .edu sites use Web pages with the ~ (tilde) after the edu. with discretion. For example: www.buffalo.edu/~ACB12 . This is a usually an indication that it is an individual homepage of a student or faculty member of a university.
Be sure to check the date the last time the page was modified.

If you cannot locate a date on the page itself, go to the browser menu under View and Page Info (Netscape), often the last date the page was modified is listed here. If you are unable to find any date for the page, it is recommended that it not be used as a cited source for your assignment.
Use the UB Libraries Homepage: Resources by Subject page.
Resources by Subject provides a list of subject areas with links to Web resources that have been evaluated and selected by UB subject librarians.

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Important Web Facts

Any person or organization can publish information on the Web.
Web pages are not organized
Most books and scholarly periodicals have been edited and evaluated by their publishers, while Web pages are not evaluated by the search engines which index them. Even subject directories which have been "organized" into categories by people, are rarely critically evaluated for content.
Web sources can change on a day to day basis, adhering to a "Here today, gone tomorrow" concept.

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Additional Resources

For more information on how to evaluate Web sites, go to:

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