Linking Criteria

Does it fit EPA's mission?

• The topic must support EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment.
• The site provides good quality environmental education. We expect the content we link to will follow the guidelines set forth in the 1996 Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence published by the North American Association for Environmental Education.   
• We link to EPA content first and foremost, but we will consider links to sites from other sources if their information is essential to fill a gap on our sites.

We will not link to a site if it:

• Contains advertising.
• Engages in advocacy. (It must not advocate political action such as boycotting businesses or sending automated e-mails to Congress);
• Fails to identify the source of the site (what individual or organization produces it or is responsible for it) clearly on the site's home page. We're looking for organization names, phone numbers, e-mail and web addresses, etc. that a person could contact for additional information.
• Links to sites which are not factual and neutral (This would exclude a site which is itself neutral but links to a radical or opinion-based site).
• Is clearly out of date. We link to materials that are current or popular. (For example, if a site has lots of broken links and looks as if it isn't being maintained, we won't link to it.)
• Doesn't protect children's privacy (in accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

Is it appropriate for the audience?

The item has to be age-appropriate and a useful educational tool for the intended audience. We take into account reading level and various indicators of a site's complexity.

Is it easy to use and engaging?

• It must be easy to use, well organized, and simple to navigate. You shouldn't have to read a lot of instructions in order to use it effectively. There should be adequate explanations and instructions.
• The site should look polished and attractive. It should appeal to the target audience.
• Young users should be able to find age-appropriate material easily, without going off track into content for adults.
• Special considerations for Teachers site: Curriculum materials must contain certain basic information so they'll be useful for educators. They should have background, vocabulary, and age or grade level.
• While only federal government web sites must follow Section 508, we encourage accessible web sites.

Does it promote critical and creative thinking?

• It should present topics, problems and references so that people who use them understand the topics' importance, develop questions, and explore the answers. This exploration can include developing and implementing activities and experiments to answer questions, doing additional research using other resources, conducting interviews, and posing further questions.
• Students develop critical thinking skills as they acquire the knowledge and skills to identify and understand the components of a topic, put information together in a meaningful way, determine the positive and negative aspects of solutions, consider a variety of value systems and make choices with an understanding of the range of consequences that will result.
• Students develop creative thinking skills with activities that enable them to ask questions, explore new solutions, and revise their thinking to accommodate newly acquired knowledge. Such activities also incorporate an acceptance of different views or approaches to problems and reward effort as well as success.
• We link to materials which encourage users to arrive at their own conclusions instead of advocating one way of thinking (e.g., no finger pointing at polluters).

Is it interactive? Is it well-suited to the Web?

• The site should feature interactive educational activities. Just giving information is not the same as providing education.
• Some things just aren't well-adapted for use on the Web. That's okay to some extent if you can print them out easily for use offline (e.g., activity books, puzzles, posters).
• Graphics should reinforce the main concepts of the resource and its educational goals.
• Graphics need to be culturally sensitive and demonstrate diversity; they should not reinforce negative stereotypes.

Can someone use it without being a computer whiz?

We look for resources that an average person could use on an average computer setup. We recognize that this is very difficult to quantify, and that technology changes all the time. We look for problems like these:

• Requires you to buy new hardware or software
• Takes too long to load
• Doesn't tell you clearly what plug-in is needed, where to get it, or how to install it

Is the content clear and easy to understand?

• We look for clear writing, without jargon or acronyms. It should explain technical terms. There shouldn't be spelling or grammar errors. Content in foreign languages should also be well-written, with accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• The content should reinforce the purpose of the site; activities should be both fun and relevant.
• All text and images should be clear and legible. If there's a printable resource, it should print clearly.