Parent's Place

PARENT'S PLACE

Evaluating a Website

Recommended Sites

Evaluating a Website

Congratulations, you've found the perfect website. It has all of the information that you need for your report or assignment...or does it? Because there isn't any one person or agency that governs what is put onto the web, anyone can put anything on their own website. That is why you may want to evaluate the website before trusting the information that you found.

There are several things to look at when evaluating a website. First, look at the URL or address of the site. If it ends in .gov, .org or .edu, then it is a government, organization or educational site, and you can usually trust their information. On the other hand, if you see an URL with .com or ~jsmith/, then it is a commercial website or Joe Smith's personal website, and you would want to see what credentials that Joe Smith has before trusting his information. Hopefully, Joe Smith would have a section on his site that contains his credentials.

Second, look at the date that the page was last revised. Remember, if the information was last updated in 1996, then it is probably outdated!

Last, look for signed articles and sited sources. You want to know where the person got their information.

Recommended Sites

Family.com is part of the "Go.com" network. Family.com offers advice from experts, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and more. Sponsored by Disney and ABC. Registration (free) is required to use many of the features.

ParentsTalk is part of the Circle 1 network, ParentsTalk.com educates in an entertaining format. Their site offers bulletin boards, articles, and advice from experts. Registration is required to use the chat/board functions, but is free.

National Parenting Center website may not be as flashy as some of the other commercial sites, but is packed with information. From their home page, you can access ParenTalk, a newsletter. Articles for this newsletter are divided by age/development levels, so you can read what is pertinent for your needs.

Parentsplace (and its sister site Parentsoup.com) has articles, polls, advice, and consumer information. In order to participate in their bulletin board discussions or chats, you must be a registered member. Registration is free.

Connect for Kids is a virtual encyclopedia of information for adults who want to make their communities better places for kids.

KidsHealth was created by the medical experts at the Nemours Foundation and has trainloads of information on infections, behavior and emotions, food and fitness, and growing up healthy, as well as cool games and animations!