This page has been on the internet
since February 26, 2005
Feel free to use this page in school or library internet training classes.
Anyone can post anything on the web.
For example:
2+2=5
The English Alphabet begins:
A-B-C-J-O-R-S-Q
Information posted on the World Wide Web is not checked by some internet fact checker.
The key is learning how to evaluate the site you are looking at and deciding if it is published by a reputable source.
Tip #1
Look at the URL of the website. This can give us some clues. Note
the letters at the end.
Common examples are:
A government site http://www.whitehouse.gov
A library in Illinois site http://www.lansing.lib.il.us
A commercial site http://www.mayoclinic.com
An educational site http://www.govst.edu
An organization site http://www.girlscouts.org
Tip#2
Is the URL from a common internet service provider? Look for the words aol.com, geocities.com, or members. It's likely these are personal web pages.
Investigate the author carefully. There is no publisher vouching for the contents of the page.
Tip#3
Who published the page? Have you heard of them before? Does it correspond with the name of the web site? Look for the portion following the www.
For more tips on evaluating the quality of websites, visit your local library!