Evaluation is not just a process for selecting websites. Books, articles, anything you use for research should be reviewed against the criteria we've discussed. For instance, before deciding whether to include a journal article for a paper consider the following:

• Author--are there authors listed? what are their credentials and are they affiliated with a specific institution?
• Scholarship--is there a bibliography or foot/endnotes?
• Audience--is the article written for the general public, college students, or professionals in the field?
• Bias/Objectivity--is there an emphasis on a particular point of view?
• Currency--are the sources in the bibliography or foot/endnotes much older than the article?
• Overall Quality--is the paper thin or brittle, are the photos blurry, and do tables and graphs enhance the information presented?