Website Evaluation

Once you have decided upon your key search terms, you can think about where you’re going to search for the information and which sources are likely to be reliable. Whichever search engine you use, consider the following:

• Relevant results (results you are interested in)
• Uncluttered, easy to read interface
• Helpful options to broaden or tighten a search

Examine your search results carefully and see if they are what you were hoping for.  If you are not happy with the results, don’t give up!  A successful search will often take several tries. You can usually refine your searches by adding new terms which spring to mind once you have seen your initial results; or you may choose to limit your results if you feel you have retrieved too many. Different search engines, (e.g. Bing, Google), or databases, (e.g. JStor Ireland), will offer different search options to help with this.

Always remember to look at the “Help” or “Search tips” pages offered by the particular database or search engine you are currently using.

Wherever you find your results online, you need to evaluate the website in question. Why do you need to evaluate webpages you consult? Because anyone can create and publish a website. They are not checked for quality or accuracy before being made available to you. Although some sites, for example the University of Southampton Library website is authored by librarians with expertise in their field, most sites are created by non-experts.