COBRA: The 5 W's of Evaluation
Currency (C): When was the site created, updated, or last worked on?
Origin (O): Where does the information come from?
Bias (B): What is the purpose of the site?
Relevancy (R): Why is the information helpful?
Authority (A): Who wrote the pages and are they an expert on the topic?
- Does the date this website was created appear on it somewhere?
- Can you tell when this information was last updated?
- Does it matter to you whether this information is outdated? Why?
Origin (O): Where does the information come from?
- Does the author let you know where the information came from? Does he/she have a bibliography?
- Does the bibliography appear to be accurate and trustworthy?
- Does the author include links to related websites you can use to continue your research?
Bias (B): What is the purpose of the site?
- Is this page mostly fact or mostly opinion?
- Do any of the facts appear out of context? Are they included to try to persuade you to think a certain way?
- Are there links to the organization sponsoring the page? Or, does this seem like a single person trying to tell his/her opinion?
- Is the page actually an advertisement disguised as information?
Relevancy (R): Why is the information helpful?
- Does this website give you helpful information? Or, should you keep looking?
- Is this new information to you? Is it something you haven’t yet read, heard, or discovered?
- Can you confirm the reliability of the information by finding similar information elsewhere from sources you trust?
Authority (A): Who wrote the pages and are they an expert on the topic?
- Can you tell who the author is? If not, what organization is sponsoring this website?
- Is the author/organization well-regarded in this field?
- Is there a place on the website where you can contact the author/organization?
- Can you find additional information about the author? Where he/she works? Biographical information?
- How did you get here? Did you link to this site from a site you trust?