How do I evaluate a website?
There are several ways to evaluate a website for accuracy and timeliness:

1. Look at the Domain Name (internet address suffix) to see who posts the information. Companies, organizations, universities, government agencies, and individuals all have websites. ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (www.icann.org) is the non-profit organization that manages the domain name system.

• com is the domain name for a company website. Commercial websites advertise and sell products and services. Click here to see an example of a commercial website.
• org is the domain name for a non-profit organization website. Non-profit organizations or foundations promote their institution and provide information. Click here to see an example of a non-profit organization website.
• edu is the domain name for a college or university website. Colleges and universities promote their institutions and provide information to students, prospective students, faculty, and alumni. Click here to see an example of a university website.
• gov is the domain name for a government agency website. Every United States government agency has a website. The government is saving printing, mailing, and updating costs by posting forms, documents, and regulations on the internet. Click here to see an example of a government website.
  Government websites may also be recognized by a geographic description, such as oh.us.
  Every state has a website. The state of Ohio website is www.state.oh.us. oh is the two-digit abbreviation for Ohio. us is the two-digit abbreviation for United States. You can find the website of any other state by substituting the state's two-digit abbreviation for oh. Countries also have geographic two-digit abbreviations. To read more abut them click here. To view an example of a website from outside the United States click here.
• mil is the domain name for United States military websites. Every branch of the military has a website. Click here to see an example of a military website.
• ~ is the symbol for an individual's website. If you see ~ is the url you are on an individual's website. Click here to see an example of an individual's website.

2. Look at the website to learn about who is posting the information. A good website will tell you about the company, organization, or person sponsoring the website.

• Look for credentials. How long has the company been in business? What is the background and education of the individual promoting the information?
• Look for contact information (phone, address, and/or e-mail address). This allows you to verify information or correspond with the company or individual. The Lands End website at www.landsend.com provides a company history and contact information on its website.

3. Look to see if the website is supported by an institution. In general, government and non-profit organization websites provide information, rather than sell a product. Medline Plus at www.medlineplus.gov is an example of an authoritative website with no advertisements or product endorsements.

4. Look to see when the website was last updated. A good website will indicate when it was last updated. Recent updates are especially important for medical, health, and scientific information, as well as news. CNN at www.cnn.com is a recently updated website.

Back to Top

Practice what you've learned!
Practice what you've learned by evaluating the city of Stow's website at www.stow.oh.us

Back to Top

How do I use a search engine to refine my search results?
Search engines allow us to find websites by typing in a few key search terms in a search box. They search millions of web documents for the words we specify and present us with a list of results or "hits". Some search engines do simple searching and others allow various advanced searching techniques. Depending on the search engine you may limit the results of your search by trying the following search techniques:

• Use multiple keywords in a simple search
  
• Use Boolean Operators - The Boolean operators AND,OR, NOT, and NEAR tell search engines which keywords you want your results to include or exclude, and whether you require that your keywords appear close to each other. They are named after George Boole, who invented them as a system of logic in the mid-1800s. Boolean operators are capitalized. They can be combined.

  AND limits a search (college AND scholarships).
  OR broadens a search
  NOT eliminates search results (use AND NOT when searching)

• Use phrase searching - quotation marks limit the search to the quoted phrase - "garden tours"
  
  
• Use the Advanced Search - Most search engines have an "advanced search" option.

If you cannot find what you're searching for, rephrase the keywords or use another search engine.

Back to Top

Practice What You've Learned!
Try multiple keywords in a simple search on Live Search at www.live.com (garden vs. garden tours)

Try Boolean searching on Exalead at www.exalead.com (garden tours vs. garden tours AND NOT England AND NOT Britain)

Try phrase searching on Ask at www.ask.com. (garden tours vs. "garden tours")

Try the Advanced Search on Yahoo! at www.yahoo.com and Google at www.google.com

Back to Top

What else can I do with search engines?

1. Create your own preferences
   Set preferences, such as search language and and location on Live Search at www.live.com. You can even change the look of the site with Ask skins at www.ask.com.

2. Find images
   Use AltaVista at www.altavista.com or Google at www.google.com to find images.

3. Search more than one search engine at a time
   Use a meta search engine such as Dogpile at www.dogpile.com or Clusty at www.clusty.com.

4. Try a search engine just for kids
   Yahoo! Kids at http://kids.yahoo.com and Ask for Kids at www.askforkids.com are designed for children ages 7 - 12. No adult advertising or inappropriate sites.

Back to Top

www.searchenginewatch.com
www.searchengineshowdown.com
www.searchengines.com

Back to Top

Back to Top