Evaluating Information Sources, page 2

Evaluating Information Resources Found and Retrieved

Question to ask: can you identify the sponsoring or publishing body of the web page?

What to Look For:

Does a university, governmental agency, or other reputable organization maintain the site?
Does the page include any of the following?
- a header, footer, watermark or wallpaper that shows its affiliation as part of a larger web site.
- a link at the bottom or top of the page that allows you to go to the home page of the web site.
Does the site claim to represent a group, an organization, an institution, a corporation or a governmental body? A web page's URL address can help you identify the sponsor or source by analyzing the domain:
- Non-governmental and/or professional organization web pages: look for .org (organization)
- Governmental web pages: look for .gov (government)
- Corporate/business/for profit web pages: look for .com (commercial)
- Educational institution web pages: look for .edu (educational)
- Personal web pages frequently have a tilde (~) in the URL and may include .com, .edu, or .org