Finding Good Sources on the Internet

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Finding Good Sources on the Internet
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If the internet were a city

• Databases would be like Police Stations,
  Government Buildings, Fire Stations, etc.

• Random websites are like peoples homes. You
  never know who is behind the door.

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What does it mean?

• .org - organization
• .com - company
• .sch school (used outside of US)
• .k12 most US school sites
• .edu US higher ed
  
• .gov US government (add country code for
  outside US)
• .net - network
• .mil US military
  
• .co Company (if paired with a country code,
  example
• .co.uk,)

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Tips on checking sources

• Its NOT enough to look at the URL or the layout.
• http//www.martinlutherking.org/
• Find out what pages have links to it
• www.altavista.com
• Type linkhttp//www.martinlutherking.org
• No space between the word link, the colon, and
  the URL.

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Tips on checking sources

• Look for the author!
• Good authors Professors within the field,
  published authors, known organizations that will
  check for accuracy, organizations created to
  remember your disaster, sites created by groups
  of teachers, etc.
• If you cant find an author look for About this
  site or Frequently asked Questions for more
  info.
• http//www.allaboutexplorers.com/

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Tips for finding sources

• In google, do an advanced search for .edu
  addresses
• Click on advanced search
• Put in search criteria
• Where is says Search within Site or Domain type
  in .edu
• This bring you to websites sponsored by
  universities.
• Watch out for in the address. That means
  its a student page or a personal page. These
  are NOT scholarly pages.

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Full Citations

• www.citationmachine.net
• Click on MLA
• Click on More Resources
• Click on the type of source
• Remember the type refers to where YOU got it.
• A newspaper article from a database should be
  cited as a database.
• Work from a Subscription Service Accessed
  through a Library - one or more authors
• LIST must be alphabetical