On information literacy. Designed for EFL students in China, but can be used with native speakers. Helps learners choose credible websites for research.

1. Adapted from http://www.slideshare.net/saguaro5/finding-and-evaluating-
websites-2283483

2.  Cause: Over 85% of first year college
students only use common search engines for
finding information.
 Baidu, Wikipedia, etc.
 Effect:They don’t get the best information.

3. Authority
Currency
Accuracy
Objectivity
Content

4.  Is the author named?
 Does the author have the necessary
education or experience?
 Is the page part of an individual's site or part
of an organization's?
 Who is the sponsor?
 Is contact information available for the
author or the sponsor?

5.  Is the site free of noticeable errors?
 Are the facts valid compared to other
reliable sources?
 Does the author give proper attribution
to borrowed information or knowledge?

6.  Does the author have a bias, taking a position
on an issue, or giving only one side of the
story?
 Is the site designed to promote or sell a
service or product?
 What's the purpose of the site?

7.  Does the web page show when it was
last updated?
 Is the information up-to-date?
 How current are the links? Have some
expired or moved?

8.  Does the site offer something unique
that is not found elsewhere?
 Is the subject well-researched and
covered comprehensively?
 Is information cited properly?
 Is the information well organized?

9.  There are many search engines
that students should use.
Some curate information.

10.  Librarian’s Index to the Internet
www.ipl.org
 Yahoo directory
dir.yahoo.com
 www.dmoz.org

11. Healthline-health information
http://www.healthline.com
(Not sure I’d call it a search engine.)
 MathSearch-math
http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/index/mathsearch.html

12.  Searchedu.com
Searches by .edu, .mil, .gov etc.

13.  Try
http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html
 A search engine directory/guide

14.  Cornell University Library. (2014). Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria andTools.
Retrieved from http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webeval.html on
April 8, 2014.
 Carlock, D. (2014). Finding and Evaluating Websites. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/saguaro5/finding-and-evaluating-websites-
2283483 on April 8, 2014.