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What are all of the domain suffixes about? Dot What??
The domain suffix lets you know what the intended audience or purpose of a particular website might be.
Here are some common suffixes:
.com - commercial, may or may not be a reputable source and it may or may not be biased, as the owner of the site is paying for it.
.edu - these are educational institutions. These could be for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, or higher institutions. Check the source to be sure it is not a student's website.
.gov - Government - any site with this suffix is created by the federal government. This information is considered credible.
.org - Typically a non-profit organization - these are usually factual and unbiased, but you still need to consider their point of view and think critically about what you see.
.net - can include sites of any kind. Be aware of the content and think critically about the source.
Questions to Ask Yourself to Determine a Website's Credibility
Questions to Ask Yourself to Determine a Website's Credibility
1. URL (web address) - Have you heard of the URL before?
2. What kind of page is it? Is it made by a single person, a group, an organization, a school, a company, a governmental agency? (see domain suffixes above this box)
3. Look in the ABOUT section. Is this web page made by someone or some organization you have heard of?
4. Is there a date and an author? Can you search for the author in Google?
5. What is the author's purpose? To inform? To persuade? To entertain?
6. What is the tone or feeling of the writing? The more emotional it makes you, the more likely it is to be biased or written to persuade or entertain.
7. What links are attached to the page? Do they seem credible? Have you heard of them?
8. How does it look? Is it disorganized? Does it have low quality graphics and images?
9. Can you verify the facts presented on another website(s)?
What is the right search engine to use?
EBSCO Host which can be accessed through our school webpage is always a great resource for online research.
Google Books often has out of print or PDF books that can be accessed online.
Google Scholar has content that is geared towards education and research, rather than entertainment.
Education Research Information Center is maintained by the US Department of Education.
Yippy allows you to search by Sources or Sites, so you can choose where your information comes from.
What do you type into a search engine?
- Think specific and simple. Eliminate extra words that do not add to the search. For example articles such as "the" or "a" or other adjectives (typically).
- You do not need to use question words. Just type the subject. Example: "What is the capital of Montana?" could be limited to "capital Montana".
What symbols can be used in a search to help me be more effective?
"-" - use a subtraction sign and it can eliminate extraneous "matches" that are really unrelated. Example "jaguar-car"
"and" - This will ensure that the words appear together.
" " - Place quotation marks around what you type and it ensures the words will appear with the exact phrasing.
Use the search operator site: to get information from a particular source. Example: uber site:msnbc or presidential site: .gov
Relevancy
After checking the domain suffix and evaluating the credibility of the site, please be sure to check the publishing date! The material may be out-of-date or no longer factual. The more often a site is updated, the more reliable the source.
Tone
Read a bit of the content on the site. What tone or feeling does the site give off? If you find yourself forced into a significant emotional reaction (positive or negative), there is a good chance that the source is biased and not factual.
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