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Find Websites
Phrase Search
When using a search engine such as Google, place quotation marks around key phrases in your search. This will return more specific and relevant results. A search in Google for cash for grades returned almost 5 million results but only 23 thousand with the below search in quotes.
Site Search
Secondly, your search will be more accurate and reliable when you conduct a site search of the Education or Government domain. To run a site search in Google, add site:edu or site:gov to your search terms. Searching for information in these two top-level domains will eliminate a lot of inaccurate websites and help you find reliable research-based information.
Evaluating Websites
Use the following evaluation questions to determine if websites are appropriate for college-level research.
Who?
- Who is the author of this page?
- Are the author's qualifications clearly stated?
- Is the author separate from the "webmaster"?
- Can the author be contacted for clarification?
What?
- What is the purpose of this site?
- What topics are covered?
- What goals/objectives does this resource meet?
- What opinions are expressed?
- What is the context in which the information is provided?
When?
- When was this site created?
- When was it last updated?
Where?
- Where did the writers obtain their information? Are citations included?
- What institution published this? Are they reputable?
- Where can I verify this information?
Why?
- Why is this information useful?
- Why is this page better than other pages on this topic?