so you found something on the web should you use it or lose it when you're evaluating web content you ask many of the same questions as you do with other types of resources who created or published it and what expertise do they have in the subject when was the content created what is the focus of the content and the intended audience look at the creator or publisher with a web resource the creator may be an individual organization association corporation or government department what qualifies them to publish in this field look for contact information an about us page or an author biography or educational qualifications to determine the expertise of the creator or publisher can you find this information if not you may want to reconsider using the resource consider youtube the person who uploaded a video may not be the creator or copyright holder of the content the same is true for sites like reddit twitter instagram and facebook the poster is often not the creator of the content you have to determine the original creator and copyright holder in order to cite the content properly consider wikis such as wikipedia they allow collaborative publishing and editing of content it may not be possible to identify the original creator or editors sometimes the content added to an entry is deliberately biased or inaccurate wiki content is also likely to change because it can be edited or updated at any time try to determine when the information that you're looking at was written published or updated this date may be different from the date when the website was created or updated even new websites can have older content it's up to you to determine if that content is still valid identify the intent of the content does the creator have an obvious bias or are both sides of the question considered is the content based on facts or opinion how are the conclusions supported is there any evidence provided such as references to other research or links to other credible sources do other websites link to the one you're evaluating is the intent of the content to advertise persuade or inform it's important that the web content you use is appropriate for your assignment so consider these points carefully you can find other clues in the way the website is presented a well-designed and maintained website may be an indicator of credible content look for appropriate graphics advertising and high quality images the website should not have dead links spelling or grammar errors or typos sites translated into english may be an exception consider the website's language and country of origin also be aware that some sites are developed specifically as fakes or may feature humorous or satirical content it's important to verify content that you find on the web by consulting other sources both on and off the web if you've considered all of these questions you've completed a thorough evaluation and can make an informed decision about including the website as a source in your research