Currency

• When was it published or posted?
• Has is been revised or updated?
• Does it have any broken or missing links?

Relevancy

• Does it relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is it written at an appropriate level (i.e. not below or above your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources?

Authority

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• Are the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author’s qualifications to write on the topic?

Accuracy

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence (like a bibliography or working links to other websites)?
• Has the author's information been reviewed or refereed (meaning evaluated by others in the same profession)?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion (watch out for emotional writing or opinions not based upon fact)?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?

Purpose

• What is the purpose of the information? to inform? to teach? to sell? to entertain? to persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is it fact? opinion? propaganda? objective? impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases? (you want to avoid these sources in scholarly research)?