Website Credibility- Middle School

For middle school students, try Dr, ABC.

Internet Research Tools

Use the following pneumonic and indicators to evaluate reliability: Dr. ABC

Domain, Recent, Authority, Bibliography, Credibility 

Domain types

Very Reliable			Usually Reliable Who authored?			What is the purpose? Is there an agenda?			Personal Pages
.gov	government		.ac	University/college		.org	organization		.html
.mil	military		.edu	School/university		.com	commercial		~
			.k12	school		.net	Internet source		Various endings

*To search a specific domain, type your topic, space, then type site:.domain, replacing “domain” with the domain type you prefer. Example: renaissance site:.edu  

Recent

When was the site created, copyrighted, last modified or updated? Is that important to the content?

Do all links work?

Authority

Who is the author or organization? What are their qualifications?

What is the purpose? Is it promoting an agenda or selling a service/product?

Is it educational/instructive, an idea forum, or for entertainment?

Bibliography

Are sources credited and reliable? Can they be verified?

Credibility

Is content free of spelling/grammar errors and nonsense words?

Is information factual/logical and verifiable?

Is information balanced and objective with well supported arguments, vs. biased, subjective and opinionated? If subjective, are balanced sources and ideologies presented/compared?

Is information and design well organized, easy to read and navigate?

Are help, search, and sitemap tools available?