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English: Find Websites

URL's

The URL (uniform resource locator) is a web site's address on the World Wide Web. Look at everything that appears before the first slash. This is the domain name. Most of the time, it will tell you what type of entity is responsible for the web site.

In the domain name: Indicates:
.edu educational or research institutions
.ac. educational, research, sometimes government entities
.org organizations of all types
.name personal name
.com corporations, businesses, entrepreneurs
.info corporations, businesses, individuals
.coop cooperative businesses
.aero aviation community, including airport businesses
.museum museums of all kinds
.mil military agencies
.gov federal government agencies
.us local government agencies in the United States
.net generally commercial internet service providers who sell space on their servers to others

As the internet grows, more categories are added to these top-level domain codes. New codes are listed in an FAQ on the InterNIC web site. Web sites originating outside the United States generally include acountry code in the domain name and will sometimes use other naming conventions.

Following the domain name will be information about the specific web site. The domain may be reliable, but the specific site may be unreliable. Once you know what or who is responsible for the web site, ask yourself:

  • What is the general reputation of this type of entity?
  • What is the reputation of this specific entity?

For example:

  • Educational institutions and government agencies are generally considered reliable sources of information. However, students may post personal web pages on the school's server that are not reliable sources of information.
  • Organizations are generally advocates for someone or something and may have a distinct point of view.
  • Commercial Internet Service Providers (ISP) sell space on their servers to anyone. They are not generally held accountable for the reliability of the information in web sites on their servers.

If you are not familiar with the specific entity responsible for the web site ask your instructor, another knowledgeable person, or ASK A LIBRARIAN for help.

Websites: Use Good Ones, Not Bad Ones!

You may find that you have a lot of freedom in finding resources for your papers. That is a good thing!

We know that the first place you'll go is online -- probably to Google, Yahoo, or Bing. That's fine. That's not a bad thing.

What IS a bad thing is if you use any old website without checking to make sure that it is a good one. Use the following as guidelines in determining whether to use a website for your paper.

  • Who made it: a business, a branch of government, a non-profit organization, the military, a professional association....?
  • Are they credible and reliable?
  • When was it last updated?
  • What is the purpose of the website? Is it trying to sell you something?
  • Are there a lot of ads?

A word about Wikipedia: librarians love Wikipedia. Professors love Wikipedia. Everyone loves it. It is a great starting point. BUT, it is generally NOT acceptable to cite Wikipedia in a college-level paper unless your professor has said that it is OK.

Limiting Your Search

In Google, adding site:gov or site:edu to the end of your search will yield results ONLY from government or academic websites. This is better than random pages from Monster.com or the random blog of Joe Schmoe. Here are some examples:

  • global warming site:gov
  • nursing profession site:edu
  • golf industry site:edu
  • minority owned businesses site:gov

Go ahead, try it! We think you'll be glad you did.

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