A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a web address for a page or document on the World Wide Web. We can make some educated guesses (see the box at right for a warning) about the reliability of a web site if we know a little about URLs.
Each URL (for example https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/internships/), consists of an access protocol (http),a domain name (www.whitehouse.gov), and an optional path to a file or resource residing on that server (get-involved/internships).
The domain name indicates the organization responsible for the site (www.whitehouse.gov in the example above). The top-level domain indicates the type of site (gov in the example above).
The most common top-level domains and the type of site they indicate are:
The following criteria are appropriate for evaluating information of any kind. Evaluation is especially imporant when dealing with information found online. Review the following criteria and answer the questions based on the web page you are evaluating. A high quality source with quality information will enable you to answer MOST of the questions with a "YES."
Defines who created the content, the individual or group's credentials/expertise and provides contact information
Content is balanced, presenting all sides of an issue and multiple points-of-view
Content is grammatically correct, verifiable and cited when necessary
Content is relevant to your topic or research
Information is current and updated frequently
**Adapted from the original with permission, Eastern Kentucky University Libraries.
Making educated guesses about the reliability of web sites will only get you so far--you must rigorously evaluate web sites on an individual basis, be they a .com or .gov. Thus, it is necessary to follow the criteria above when evaluating ANY website.
