COR120

For one of the linked sites below, determine the following:

• URL: What does the domain—.com, .biz, .gov, .org, etc.—communicate about the website?  

• Page authority: How does the site communicate that the creators have the ability to speak authoritatively about the topic?  Are the creators university faculty or researchers? Independent researchers? Corporate employees? Journalists? People enthusiastic about a topic? An organization? 

• Sponsorship and bias: What organization is behind the site?  (Sometimes it is not immediately obvious.)  What is the purpose of the organization?  Are they trying to get money or trying to influence readers to think or act a certain way?  Does the site represent a single point of view, or does it try to engage multiple points of view?  Are there multiple authors on the page/site? 

• Currency: When was the page updated last?  If that is not available, can you tell how old the page content is?

• Usefulness: Would this page/site be a good source for research?

Adapted from Jessica Henig's, "The Credibility Challenge," from Annenberg Classroom