AAOCC—Four Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages
AAOCC—Four Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages
|Criteria for Evaluating a Web Documents |Ask Yourself… |
|1. Accuracy and Authority of Web Documents |Who is the author? |
| | |
|You check for accuracy when you find an author or publisher to take responsibility for the |Is there an address, phone number or email given? (Some way to |
|information. If the author provides contact information such as email, address and/or phone |contact author) |
|number, he/she takes responsibility. | |
|If research is being used, the author should provide a bibliography that supports what he/she|Who publishes the website? A publisher? An organization? A group |
|is saying; this also helps the reader determine accuracy. |with a biased viewpoint? |
|If there is no author given, determine if the page is associated with or published by a group| |
|or organization that is taking responsibility. The domain name may give clues to this. |What is the URL and what does this tell you about the publisher of|
|Once you know who is responsible, check to see his/her credentials give the person authority |the site? .gov? .org? .net? .edu? |
|to publish the information. What are the qualifications that this person or organization | |
|possess and are they prominent enough to be trusted? |What qualifications does the author have? Or what qualifies the |
|The purpose of the document should be clear. Why was it produced? |group to publish such information? |
|The information needs to make sense and should be something that can be verified. Text should| |
|be free of errors and feel reliable. |Is the information verifiable? |
| | |
| |Is the text free of errors, well written and cited properly? |
|2. Objectivity of Web Documents | |
| |Is the page a mask for advertising; if so, how might the |
|The goals and objectives of the document should be made clear. |information be biased? |
|The page should be objective or unbiased about the subject covered. Bias should be stated as | |
|such. |Why was the page written (motives)? |
|If the author’s opinions are stated, they should be well substantiated and should not be | |
|presented as fact. |Who is the intended audience? |
|The motives of the piece should be transparent. | |
|View each webpage as if it were an Infommercial on television—be skeptical. |Are opinions backed by accurate facts and information? |
|3. Currency of Web Documents | |
| |When was it produced? Last updated? |
|The information should be up to date and there should be an indication that someone is taking| |
|care of the site. For example, if a number of the links no longer work, this is one way to |How many dead links are there? |
|tell. | |
| |Is the information outdated? |
|4. Coverage of Web Documents |Is there breadth and/or depth to the topics covered? |
| |Is the information free or is there a fee to obtain information? |
|There is breadth and/or depth to the topics covered. |Are you able to view the page or is software missing? Is that |
|You should have not problem viewing the information properly—not limited to fees, browser |software free? |
|technology, or software requirement. | |
Sources: Kapoun, Jim. “Teaching undergrads WEB evaluation: A guide for library instruction.”C&RL News (July/August 1998): 522-523.
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