What is a Web page?

A Web page is an online source of any length.

A Web page appears in many formats.

What is a Web site?

All the Web pages within one domain are called a Web site.

What is the difference between a Web Project and a Web site?

A Web Project is a section of a Web site that has:

• A topical focus
• A section title

How do I evaluate the author?

The author's expertise and credentials should relate to your subject. A credible contributor might:

• Hold a degree in this subject
• Study or do research on this topic
• Work in a related field
• Write about this topic regularly
• Have first-hand knowledge
• Have participated in, or observed, events and people

How do I evaluate the publisher?

Why would this organization publish this information?

Tip: Read the "About" page.

Is recent information important for my topic?

Information on science, current events and living people changes rapidly. What is the publication date?

How do I fact-check the information?

Who does the author link to, quote, or reference?

• Has the author presented the original source information accurately?

How strong is the evidence?

• If there is a study or poll, is the sample size large enough to represent the population accurately?

Corroborate the facts

• Verify information in other types of media (e.g., journals, magazines, blogs, reports)

How do I evaluate the credibility of the author's argument?

What is the author's purpose (e.g., persuade, inform, describe)? How do you know?

• What's the main idea?
• Does the author consider other views?
• Whose perspective is missing?
• Could I interpret things differently?

How does this source fit?

• Does this make sense, given what I already know?
• Does this source add a different point of view?

Where do I find the citation elements?

• Title
• Author
• Date of publication or update
• Publisher or sponsor
• Web Site or Web Project name (Cut the URL back to the "first slash" to check the name.)

Which URL should I use?

Test your URL in a different browser (e.g., Firefox vs. Chrome) to verify that it is stable.

• A stable URL often ends in .htm, .html, a slash, or no file extension

Don't evaluate your source by the URL.

• ANY company or organization can buy ANY top-level domain (.com, .org or .net)