There is a huge amount of information on the Internet but the quality is variable. Some reliable sources are suggested below.
See also the tips and suggestions to help you evaluate what's good and what's not!
Before believing the information given on a web site, or quoting it in your essay or project, think about the following:
Authority
Accuracy and reliability
Currency
Audience / relevance
Feel!
You can quickly evaluate the authority of a website by looking at the URL of a website. This can help you find out who or what has created the website, and possibly their intent. The main part that you want is what is called the top level domain name, which is normally the last segment of a domain name which appears after the dot.
For example: www.reading.ac.uk
The top level domain name is highlighted in bold.
Below are some common examples of domain names which you may come across. Note that even if the website comes from an official organisation, you will still need to verify the information provided.
Domain Name | Published By |
---|---|
.ac.uk | a UK university |
.gov.uk | the UK government |
.nhs.uk | The NHS |
.com or .co.uk |
a commercial organisation.These websites may intend to sell you products rather than provide unbiased information. |
.org | mainly used by non-profit organisations |
.edu | an American university |
An internet search can retrieve a wide range of different publication types. It is important that you know how to recognise these to help you judge their reliability and suitability for use in your assignments, and to know how to reference them.
Watch this short video from our Academic Liaison Team which will help you become a digital detective and use clues to help you recognise different sources in your results.