How to View a Website

Content

One of the great risks of using the Internet for research and informational purposes is that it is not always clear whether or not the material provided is trustworthy. Simply put, sometimes you can get totally false information from seemingly legitimate sites.

Here are some questions to ask about the quality and accuracy of the content:

• Does the quality of the information itself seem authoritative? Or is much of what is presented more opinion than actual fact?
  
• Has the information been researched?
  
• Have outside sources been referenced?
  
• Is there a list of further readings or links to other credible sites?
  
• Is it easy to identify who is in control of the website? If its domain suffix is .org, can you determine the name of the organization?
  
• Is there a webmaster or contact link?
  
• Does the site indicate how current the information is? Is it clear when the page was last updated?
  
• Does the content appear professional or is the page loaded with spelling and grammatical errors? Is the language offensive?
  
• Is the information that you share secure? What has the web designer done to assure you?
  
• Is the site drowning in advertisements and pop-up promotions? What’s the subject matter of the advertising?