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| Search the entire free web. See our Google Tips. | Try these to search websites hand-picked by librarians & universities. | Search an open-access encyclopedia |
Evaluating Websites
Web information is "buyer beware," as there is no overall quality control.
Keep in mind:
- Information on the Web is being given away - consider why it is free and who pays for the site.
- Reliable information exists on the Web; so do spoof sites, counterfeit sites, propaganda sites, and sites that are simply inaccurate or outdated, or full of undocumented assertions.
- "Best bet" Web sources include government agencies, news sites, professional societies, educational institutions, and reputable non-profit organizations. Out-of-copyright literary, historical, and scientific works are likely to be available; free access to recent, copyrighted books and scholarly articles is rare.
In evaluating information from a website, consider the same criteria as for published material:
- What is the purpose of the information? (inform, persuade, entertain, sell.)
- Are sources of facts and assertions documented?
- What are the author's qualifications to write knowledgeably on this topic?
- How might the information be biased?
- Is the information outdated, or still relevant?
Finding Citation Information for Webpages
- Author
- Look for a byline at the top or bottom of the document.
- Look for a link such as "About Us," "Contact," etc. that may provide author information.(Websites often neglect to provide author information for their material.)
- Webpage Title
- A webpage is a single document within a website (like an article within a magazine or journal).
- No obvious title? Check the very top of the browser screen for a title (this comes from the HTML).
- Website Title
- To find the website title (if any), try truncating the URL to view the website homepage. (This may be the sponsor/host homepage, or it may be one of many websites supported by an organization.)
- Sponsoring/Host Organization
- The host or sponsoring organization for a website is analogous to the publisher of a print item.
- To find the sponsor/host (if not obvious) try truncating the URL all the way back to the domain (.org, .com, etc).
- Date
- When was the information written/created? Look for a "Last Updated" note. (This is another item frequently left out on web pages.)
- Date Accessed
- Remember to note this. (It usually appears on printouts from the Web.)
Best Bets
- Search a vast number of sites on the free Web
Here are some tips on searching google
- Intute
- Search a smaller set of hand-selected sites (Intute is managed by a university consortium in the UK)
- Librarian's Internet Index
- Database with over 20,000 entries, maintained by librarians and organized into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related topics
- Wikipedia
- An "open access" Web encyclopedia. Anyone may write an article; anyone may edit an existing article. This can be an excellent start for many topics, but be sure to evaluate the articles carefully - some contributors do a good job of documenting their sources, some do not
Google Tips
| exact phrase | use quotes: "war crimes" |
| site: | specify a domain type: site:.gov site:.org |
| allintitle: | all words must appear in the webpage title; may improve precision: allintitle:violence schools |
| define: | finds definitions in free online dictionaries: define:academia define:attention deficit disorder |
| calculator | type in a calculation or conversion: (2514+623) / 87.3 825 feet in km |
- Select categories to see top-ranked sites for a topic:
e.g., Society >> Issues >> Crime and Justice >> Death Penalty - Search at the main Directory screen to identify useful categories:
e.g., searching Dracula brings up separate categories for the book, vampire mythology, the 1931 movie, the historical figure Vlad Tepes, etc. - Suspicious site? Check its category in the Directory:
e.g, searching www.ihr.org (the Institute for Historical Review) shows this site under "Hate Groups" - not "History"
- Google Images
- Search for images on the web
- Google US Government Search
- Especially good for facts & figures
More Academic Search Engines
These search engines index a much smaller portion of the Web, covering only a set of hand-picked websites. They often provide quick access to relatively reliable resources.
INFOMINE
Internet Public Library
Internet Scout Project
Librarians Internet Index
More Commercial Search Engines
These search engines cover a very large number of websites. They are paid for by advertising, and may give "top billing" to sites whose owners have paid for the privilege (some show a separate list of "sponsored sites")