How Do I Know What's Good on the Web?

(Evaluating sites)


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Criteria for Evaluation of Resources on the Web

Just as print sources need to be examined for relevancy, accuracy and content, Internet sources also need to be examined for content evaluation in terms of your own research needs. Consider the criteria listed in the following checklists:


Website Examples for Evaluation

Examples to illustrate differences between sites in regards to content, purpose, and/or level of intended audience.


Sites that link to outstanding education sites

  • Blue Web'n
    A library of Blue Ribbon learning sites on the Web. This site features learning sites searchable by subject area, audience, and type (lessons, activities, projects, resources, references, and tools).
  • goENC.com
    A site with links to effective curriculum resources to improve K-12 mathematics and science teaching and learning. Categorized by type of site or by subject area.
  • Information Resources for Education
    UCSB Library's resource directory to quality education sites, selected by the Education Librarian.


Evaluation Sites on the Web

How to Evaluate Web Quality

Guides to Quality Web Sites


Who owns the site?: Domain name ownership

Use the following sites to look up domain names to determine their registration records. Finding out who owns a site may help you determine its bias, legitimacy, purpose, or intended audience. For example, if you looked up whitehouse.net in WHOIS from Network Solutions, you'd find that it's not a government site but is registered to a privately-owned networking group.

  • WHOIS lookup from Network Solutions
  • easyWHOis from easyDNS Technologies Inc.
  • Whois Source "Domain name search tool that allows a wildcard search of all current/deleted/expired whois domains."
  • Whois Database Search for finding information on resources registered with the American Registry for Internet Numbers
  • Whois Search from InterNIC
  • Uwhois.com "The universal 'who is' for internet domains."
  • Whois Database search from the RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeens) for European addresses
  • Whois search on APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre) for Asia Pacific addresses
  • WHOIS lookup for U.S. government domains

    A long list of additional "whois lookup" sites:
  • Name Search for Domain Names from Google.com


Find out who links to a site

Type "link:[web address]" into Google or AllTheWeb to find out which sites link to a specific site or page. For example, if you want to find out who links to moveon.org, type link:www.moveon.org in the search box.

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Author: Janet Martorana
Revised: August 2007

Direct questions or comments about this page to the author or to webmaster@library.ucsb.edu.