WEB SITE ANALYSIS This guide is to help you use critical observation and thinking to analyze the worth of web site. The website can be one relevant to a group topic or your research proposal topic, or one of general interest. Your analysis of the site should help determine how you use it in projects or papers. Identification: What is the complete URL of the site, and the title? Authorship: Who is the owner/author of the site? Does the owner state his/her qualifications? If the owner is not identified, what can you tell about the origin of the site from the URL? Is this a site sponsored by an organization? Purpose: Is the purpose, goal or mission of the site stated? What does the site attempt to do? If not stated, what do you think is the purpose of the site? Subject: What are the main subjects covered by the site and its links? Content: How does the site present its material? In text, through graphics, by statistics, maps, quotes from others? Credibility: Why should anyone believe information from this site? Are there verifiable sources, for example statistical data that have sources listed? Are quotes and other strong assertions backed by sources that you could check through other means? Currency: If the information is that of a current nature, is it kept up-to-date? Is there an indication of when the site was last updated? Links: Are links related to the topic and useful to the purpose of the site? Are they still current, or have they become dead ends? Special features: Are there any special features that make this site more effective? If the site has special graphics, are they truly helpful to your understanding or merely showy? Your grade for the site: Would you recommend this site to a friend who is interested in the topic? How does it compare to other sources of information you have found, like journal articles/books? What grade do you give it?