Critical thinking and evaluation are important because they focus on public evidence and challenge blind authority and individual bias.
Critical evaluation means careful and exact thinking. It means looking for public forms of evidence rather than simply accepting what we are told or our own biased intuitions.
Whne using web sources, you should evaluate the information to make sure that it is an authoritative and credible source (unless you are illustrating a point about them-- for example, showing depictions of women in the 1920s from a magazine).
Some things to consider in evaluating all types of sources*:
Currency: Is the information current and up-to-date?
Relevance: Does the information have anything to do with your topic?
Authority: Is it authoritative?
Accuracy: Is reliable and true?
Purpose: Why does the information exist?
Check the acronym. Did your website pass the CRAAP Test?!
*Criteria adapted from the CRAAP Test, Meriam Library, California State University, Chico