Western Carolina University

WCU is a University of North Carolina campus

How to Evaluate Websites

You should check online information for reliability against the following points:

What you need to know	What you should ask yourself	What you need to look for
Authority It is clear who has written the information	Is the author qualified? Can he/she be contacted? What is the web address?	What are the credentials of the writer/publisher? A phone number, an email or address to contact the author. What does the URL (web site address) say about the publisher? What if I cannot find the author?
Relevancy The information is relevant to you	Who should use this information? What is this site about?	Age appropriate material and information. Look for subheading or a menu where you can find the information you need.
Accuracy The information can be checked	Does the site have a bibliography or reference page?	Can you find the same information in a scholarly resource?
Timely The information is current	Do I really want to use information that is a couple of years old?	Can you find out when the page was created? When was the information updated?
Bias What type of information is presented	Can I make up my own mind about the information?	Does the site provide enough information so that I can make my own decision? What is biased information?

URL: What does the URL (Web address) say about the producer of the web site, and its purpose? Look at the suffix in the domain name; this should give you an idea of who the author/publisher is.

.com Commercial site
.edu US institutions
.gov Government agency
.org Non-Profit Organizations
.mil Military site
~ ("tilde") Personal site

What if I cannot find the author? If you can't find an author's name on the web page, check some of the other pages to see if you can find one. If you are unable to find an author, do you really want to use this information?

What is biased information? Biased information gives one point of view or perspective. Unbiased information is either neutral or provides multiple view points.

Databases vs. Web Sites

Information you find in articles from the databases are more reliable than information from Web sites because they have gone through some kind of review process. These articles are referred to as scholarly, academic or peer review. Click this link if you are unsure what is the difference between scholarly and non-scholarly journals.

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Professional Associations

American Communication Association
International organization focusing toward quantitative communication studies. E-journal, annual conference information, and links to research.

Corporate Communication Institute (CCI)
Research-driven educational center in Corporate Communication.

National Communication Association
Oldest scholarly speech association in the United States. Includes information about conventions, research, and education.

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