PHIL 1301 | Introduction to Philosophy

Evaluating Websites

Often you are allowed to use the Internet for some of the sources in your paper.  There's a lot of information out there, so you need to be careful that you are citing valid information. 

Websites should be evaluated based on the criteria below:

• Authority- who made the page and is this person credible?
• Purpose/Intended Audience- why did they make the page and who should read it?
• Currency- is the information up to date?
• Objectivity- is the author unbiased and fair?
• Support- is the information provided cited and factual?

Suggested Websites

Internet Search Tips

Google can be a great way to find information, so long as you search smartly. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your Google searches: 

• Use "site:" to limit to a particular site or domain. For example, site:bls.gove will search for pages on the Bureau of Labor Statistics site while site:.org will search all websites and pages that have a .org domain name. 
• Use quotation marks around exact phrases. For example, "respiratory therapy technician" will return fewer (and more useful) results than the same phrase without quotes.
• Use - to exclude terms from your search. For example, -pinterest will remove all of the pinterest sites and pins from your results. 

For more search tips, check out the infographic on the left side of this page or ask a librarian.