Untangling the Web:
Making Sense of Online Sources

A User's Guide to (Smarter )Online Searching

What's in a (domain) name?

.comGeneric domain name (originally intended for commercial organizations)

.eduEducational site only for accredited post-secondary educational organizations

.govContent owned by the government

.netGeneric domain name, no distinction from .com (originally intended for websites associated with network technologies)

.orgGeneric domain name, no distinction from .com (originally intended for non-profit organizations)

Where to Start?

Let's conduct a simple Google search on...

Lets Take a Closer Look...

Top Results:1. Paid Ad:-barackobama.com2. Official Site:-barackobama.com3. Barack Obama News:-First Female President???4. Wikipedia Entry

Is the First Site Always the Best Site?

Barackobama.com-Is this site appropriate if I were searching for biographical information?-Political information?-Past speeches?

Use caution when selecting the number one site from your search results. Just because it's the first site, doesn't mean it will give you the information you are seeking...

Wikipedia.com

History-Look for how many times the page has been edited-Scan the content for information that actually makes sense-Scroll down and take a look at the notes, references, and external links. See how many are .org, .gov and .com-Find the last revised date.

Does it seem like a credible site?

What's IPL.ORG?

IPL.ORG is a website designed by reference librarians to assist online user in finding relevant information.

How to search IPL.ORG

IPL has a variety of resources for users of all ages. They have recommended sources for children and teens, as seen here------->

Searching for information by subject...

Let's continue our research on Barack Obama and look for biographical information.

Look at the Special Collections link. There's an entire section on presidents!

Evaluating IPL.ORG

It's good practice to use your website evaluation tools even with recommended sites, like this one.

Let's take a look at the information, references and copyright date...

Let's review the evaluation tools...

Whether conducting a Google, Wikipedia or librarian recommended search, be sure to use your evaluation tools to inspect the site for perspective, bias, authority and content!

Look for these things:-the type of domain name:.com, .net, .edu., .gov

-author/organization's name - who's responsible for the content? -copyright, revision date -Does the information sound right? Can you tell there is an obvious bias to the content? Are resources and references listed?

Go forth and untangle the web!

Click to edit the title text format