Website Evaluation Rubric

Students today are very experienced at ‘surfing the net.’ Telling the difference between a meaningful site and a meaningless site is a much more difficult task. Haven’t your heard things like, “But, it’s on the internet” as a validation of information. Give students a method to evaluate websites and make them accountable for the information they find. This also helps limit the plagiarism factor found in high schools today.

When my students do research projects, they are required to turn in a minimum number of website review forms in addition to their bibliographies. This helps me develop a library of useful sites to which I can direct other interested students. Website review rubrics are part of their grade and they start to see what is a ‘valid’ site versus Jamie’s site of the day.

There are many rubrics available on the net. Find what works for you or modify an existing one. Here are some samples.

Example 1 gives you a model already developed on a five point scale.

Example 2 gives you another model with some teacher tips for choosing websites.

Example 3 gives you a lesson to instruct students what they should be looking for.

Example 4 gives a plethora of rubrics for you to use for any possible type of classroom activity.