Academic Research Booklet

18

If you are unsure whether the site you’re using is credible, verify the information you find with another source you know to be reliable such as a book on the subject. The kind of websites you use for research can also depend on the topic you are investigating. In some cases it may be appropriate to use information from a company or non-profit organization’s website, such as when writing an industry or company overview. When using a regular search engine such as Google the main thing is to use your common sense – don’t necessarily believe everything you read! An easy way to ensure the resources you’re using are credible is to make use of the resources promoted on the library pages. Credible sources Not all websites are credible sources of information. To determine a website's credibility, there are six things to look for: author, date, sources, domain, site design, and writing style. A credible website will have an author who stands behind the information presented, a recent date, sources cited, and a domain such as .edu or .gov. The site should be well-designed and have good writing style without errors.