6.5.1 Lesson: How to Evaluate a Website
Article’s Credibility and Usefulness
How to Determine if a Web Source is Credible: 5 Factors
Because so much information exists on the web, and not all of it is trustworthy, use
these 5 factors to check each potential website article for credibility and relevance
to your research purpose.
Review several website articles ang apply the 5 factors criteria:
If you are answering “no” to the questions below, the source is not
appropriate.
If you are answering “yes” to the questions below, you are on your way to an
appropriate and trustworthy source.
1) AUTHORITY: the author of the information
Locate website articles written by experts (psychologists or scientists who
study gratitude) but write for non-experts.
Always check authority first. It will help you immediately rule out people who are not
experts writing about this subject.
Check the author’s education and professional experience: it needs to be relevant
to your research subject, so you need people who research and write about
gratitude and hold degrees in psychology or neuroscience (best if the degree is
a master’s or PhD).
If you happen to find an article written by an organization, you can still check
authority by reviewing the website’s homepage or “About Us” page to determine if
the organization is comprised of experts on the subject.
1. Does the author have relevant education and professional experience
in the research subject? YES/NO
2. Is the information intended for a general audience (for nonexperts),
which is what you need? YES/NO
3. Have you established that the author is an expert for this subject?
YES/NO
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4. If the author is an organization, do the members of the organization
have relevant degrees and experience in this subject? YES/NO
2) PURPOSE: the reason the information exists
Check that your website articles explain something relevant and useful about
gratitude intended for a general audience.
Determine why the information is on the web. The information should exist to
educate the general public on the subject. It should be informative and
supported by facts and evidence.
Be wary of information that is opinion-based, unsupported, biased, overly personal,
or monetized.
Be wary of articles that only summarize an expert’s research. If that happens, look
up the expert’s website article and use that instead.
1. Is the purpose to inform you about this subject? YES/NO
2. Is the information based on facts and objectively written? YES/NO
3. Does the article provide enough depth on the subject to educate the
audience? YES/NO
3) RELEVANCE: the importance of the information for your needs
Make sure your website articles are located using different experts and different
websites on gratitude.
Use a regular Google search, where experts write about gratitude for a general
audience (nonexperts) to understand, explaining things like the purpose, the
practice, or the benefits of giving gratitude.
Avoid scholarly or database articles that are written for other experts in the field as
that information is not useful to a general audience.
Look at several websites before deciding on your two sources.
1. Do your two website articles come from different experts and different
websites? YES/NO
2. Does the information explain something about gratitude, like the
purpose, practice, or benefits of giving gratitude? YES/NO
3. Is the information written for a general audience? YES/NO
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4. Did you consider a few possible website articles before deciding on
your two sources and applying the 5 factors? YES/NO
4) CURRENCY: the timeliness of the information
Check the date of publication. This one is tricky as a date alone does not
necessarily determine trustworthiness, yet you do not want outdated information, so
check that have information is from the last 10-15 years or that the website is
regularly updated. Sometimes older sources are viewed as a “seminal work,”
which means its author is the expert who began this research years ago, yet the
information is still applicable, relevant, and referenced today.
1. Is the information relevant and current? YES/NO
2. Does the information apply today? YES/NO
5) ACCURACY: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the information
Check that the information presented is professional and edited.
Examine how the information in the article is supported, which may vary from
website to website, like linked research, a bibliography, a list of sources, or
references to sources within the writing.
1. Is the information supported in some manner by evidence? YES/NO
2. Is the content edited for spelling, grammar, and typos? YES/NO
3. Are the links working? YES/NO
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