Has the website organized its information into numbered sections or provided a means of citation for scholars and researchers?
Does the website have a clear agenda, such as a commercial, political bias/motivation for its publication? Examine the address endings for the website. What does this tell you about the nature of the organization? Does that bias alter the degree to which you trust the website? Should it?
Ask yourself if the web author has taken the time to proofread her webpage. Has the author spent the time to create a neat, visually engaging but easily accessible webpage? If not, does that sloppiness detract from the reader’s trust? Why or why not? An occasional typo or grammatical error might mean nothing, but two or three within a few paragraphs might indicate this individual didn’t spend much time on the project or might not be very professional.
Is there any evidence of quality control? For instance, has the publication been “refereed”? Was it written by or for an organization that evaluates information before publication? If not, does it use quotations from such a source? Are there signs that the writer or author is incompetent, poorly educated, or apathetic about his project?
