Evaluating Web Sites

rubric [n. ROO-brik]
A rubric is an established set of procedures, rules, or customs. An authoritative set of instructions, a rubric can also be used as a guideline for grading. "The professor gave her teaching assistants a rubric to help them grade the students' papers."

Evaluation Rubrics for Websites: http://www.tammypayton.net/courses/print/rubric3.htm

Evaluating Internet-based Information: A Goals-based Approach:
http://landmark-project.com/evaluation/index.html
This site discusses the importance of starting research with a well thought out question.

Evaluating Internet Resources: http://www.tomsnyder.com/enews/articles/2002-09-A.asp

Evaluating Web Pages: http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/evaluating.html

Evaluating Web Resources: http://www.oakland.k12.mi.us/resources/media/evalwebresource.pdf

Evaluating Web Resources: http://www.oakland.k12.mi.us/resources/media/nmwebeval.htm
An interactive site

Evaluating Website Form
Make four columns
First column : the five areas: ACCURACY, AUTHORITY, OBJECTIVITY, CURRENCY, COVERAGE.
The second column was the criteria for each of those.
ACCURACY:
This page identifies the author.
The page identifies a group, association or academic institution with whom the author is associated.
If a group, association or academic institution is identified, an email or address is listed.
AUTHORITY:
The information makes sense.
The information on this page can be found in a t least two other unrelated sites or unrelated print resources.
OBJECTIVITY:
The site presetns factual information without trying to sway the audience's opinion.
The page is advertsing free.
CURRENCY:
The page indicates when it was last updated.
The page includes contact information for a site maintainer.
COVERAGE:
The material is in depth.
A variety of topics is included.
The third and fourth column:
A YES column with a box and a NO column with a box. The student can then check the box for each criteria.
from Nancy Brunker

Evaluating Websites: http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/webeval/index.htm

Evaluating World Wide Web Sites: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/Evaluate.htm

Evaluation Criteria: http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Evaluation of information sources: http://www2.vuw.ac.nz/staff/alastair_smith/evaln/evaln.htm

ICYouSee: T is for Thinking: A Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Critical Evaluation Surveys and Resources: http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html
This site includes a series of evaluation surveys, one each at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels.

Long Island University-Southampton College Library-Evaluating Library Resources: http://www.southampton.liunet.edu/library/evaluate.htm

Of Course It's True; I Saw It on the Internet: http://www.wellesley.edu/CS/pmetaxas/CriticalThinking.pdf

Richard Waller Website Evaluation Checklist: http://www.waller.co.uk/eval.htm

Rubrics and Evaluation Resources: http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/ho.html
Several different sources cover assessments and rubrics for such diverse student work as book reports, multimedia projects, and writing exercises.

Rubric for Grading Art: http://www.zimmerworks.com/rubric.htm

Rubric Template: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/triton/july/Rubrics/Rubric_Template.html

Takoma Park Maryland Library-WWW Evaluation Guide: http://www.cityoftakomapark.org/library/reference/eval.html

Thinking Critically about Discipline-Based World Wide Web Resources: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/discipline.htm

Tips for Choosing Rubrics:
http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments/Ideas_and_Rubrics/Rubric_Bank/Choosing_Rubrics/choosing_rubrics.html

Toward a Multicultural Approach for Evaluating Educational Web Sites: http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/net/comps/eval.html

The Virtual Chase: Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet: http://www.virtualchase.com/quality/index.html

Examples of Website Evaluation

Evaluating Health Related Web Pages: http://www.gananda.org/library/mshslibrary/evalhlth.htm

Evaluating Web Sites: http://volweb.utk.edu/Schools/sullivan/sullms/evaluate/evalwebstu.html

Habits of Mind-Deconstructing a Web Site: http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/newsmedia/polweb.html

A WebQuest About Evaluating Web Sites: http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~spjvweb/evalwebstu.html

Bogus (Hoax) Websites

Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie: http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html

British Stick Insect Foundation: http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Stick_Insects/
All you ever wanted to know about stick insects. How to feed them, train them, and breed them.

California's Velcro Crop under Challenge: http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html

Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division (DMRD): http://www.dhmo.org/

Feline Reactions to Bearded Men: http://www.improbable.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html

How To Tell If Your Head's About To Blow Up:
http://www.mit.edu:8001/~mkgray/head-explode.html

Internet Hoax Site: http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/documents/TAET/hoaxtable.html

Museum of Hoaxes- http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/

The Ova Prima Foundation: http://www.ovaprima.org/
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This organization has produced scientific evidence to suggest that it was the egg which came first.

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html

Sellafield Zoo: http://www.brookview.karoo.net/Sellafield_Zoo/
The website of the Sellafield Zoo, located near the Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant. It boasts that it's the zoo "where the wildlife has a half-life." Predictably, the animals in the zoo tend to display interesting mutations.

WingMakers.com: http://www.wingmakers.com/
An elaborate site that was launched back in November 1998. It claims to display artifacts that were found in underground caves beneath the New Mexico desert by the Advanced Contact Intelligence Organization (ACIO), a secret branch of the U.S. Government's National Security Agency.

Email comments and questions to studyplans@yahoo.com. This page was last updated on September 25, 2007 .