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Big Read Book Selection Fall 2014: FAHRENHEIT 451: Evaluating Websites

Analyse!

Evaluate your sites!

Evaluating Websites and Other Resources

Because there is no review process or regulation for the public Web, you will need to judge for yourself the quality of the material you find.  
The following are some general, basic criteria to consider when evaluating websites and other resources.   For more detail about specific resources, please go to the CCAC Library i-CONNECT tutorial:  Step 4: Evaluate Resources

Keep in mind these basic questions:

Accuracy Does the information presented seem accurate?  Are the facts verifiable?
Authority Who is the author? What expertise does he or she have on this topic? Who sponsors the site? Check the domain name to see if it is a university, business, organization, or an individual.
Objectivity What is the stated purpose of the site? Check the "About..." link if there is one. What position or opinion is presented and does it seem biased? What kind of sites does this one link to?
Currency On what date was the page created? Do you need more current information? Do links on the site still connect to their destination?
Use Would you quote information from this site in a college research paper?

Google Advanced Search

Searching by Domain Extensions Via Google Advanced

This library guide provides many, many excellent librarian-selected websites as resources (along with database articles and books) for your assignment.  However, if you want to search for more websites, we recommend conducting an advanced search using more credible domain extensions:

Extension Type Example
.gov government www.senate.gov
.edu education www.ccac.edu
.org organization www.neabigread.org
.mil military www.carlisle.army.mil


You can select your domain extension when conducting a search in Google Advanced: www.google.com/advanced_search.  Type in your search terms/keywords in the search box, then type in your extension in the site or domain box, then click search.

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