Welcome to the 'Evaluating Websites' Guide.
There are many potential pitfalls with web sites. The Internet is the least filtered information source in the world. Anyone may create a web site on any topic despite their lack of knowledge on the topic or any biases they may harbour.
Therefore, it is important if you are doing research on the Internet that you learn to critically evaluate the material you find. Some questions to ask when evaluating Internet sites are included in the following sections...
© Pat Guiney (2005), CC BY 2.0
Just as it is important at the end of an assignment to write a bibliography listing the titles of books, journal articles & other material used; any material you have consulted from the Internet, CD-ROMs or other electronic sources should also be referenced.
The information you require to note in your bibliography is as follows:
Author/editor’s surname, initial. (Year) Title of document or webpage. Available at: URL. Date you viewed the document.
e.g. Terry, M. (2000) An introduction to criticism. Available at: http://members.home.net/mikencarrie/cricont.htm (Accessed 16 November 2000).
e.g. McCully, M. (2015) 'Pablo Picasso (Spanish Artist)' in Encyclopaedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pablo-Picasso (Accessed: 27 July 2016).
References for images included within this guide:
Pat Guiney (2005) Internet. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrmystery/36700238 (Accessed: 10 October 2019).