LibGuides: Evaluating Websites: Evaluating Websites: Criteria and Exercises

The CAPPS Criteria

Before you use a website as a resource, evaluate it with the five CAPPS Criteria:

Currency: Publication date or updated date. The age of the content.
Authority: What qualifies the content creator or author to produce information about the topic?
Publisher / Publication: What is the reputation of the publisher, publication, or organization hosting the content?
Point of View: The way the information is presented.
Sources: Amount of evidence provided.

Download the documents below for specific evaluation criteria and practice evaluating.

The Importance of Evaluating Websites

Putting information on the Internet is fast, cheap, and can be done by anyone with an Internet connection.

If you are using a website as a source in your paper or project, you need to think critically about where that information is coming from. You don't want to base your paper off a biased opinion or cite a website that's simply a mask for advertising.

Instead, you want to find credible, up-to-date, relevant information that's written by an expert or an authority on the topic, whose claims are based in fact and supported by evidence.

To learn how to separate the good information from the not-so-good or downright bad information that you might come across online, start with the CAPPS Criteria outlined on the left. Download the linked documents for specific criteria and practice using each principle.

Once you've read about the CAPPS Criteria, test your knowledge by comparing the pairs of websites in the exercises below.

Good luck!

Note: The following examples were borrowed from Castleton College.