Effective Research Strategies and Techniques Kate Ellison

User Context Before you start searching for your websites ask yourself why you need this information. For education, information, entertainment, etc. So when you arrive at certain websites you know what you should be looking for. After the url address each address will have some abbreviation. Such as.org.edu or.gov. these abbreviations can signal what kind of site each website is, for example:.org means this site is an non profit site and you never know what kind of information you will get..edu means this site was funded by and educational resource and will have more educational info. On it, and.gov mean that the site is funded by the government and will have information more one sided from the government.

Web Context Visual distinctions that signal nature or context in print sources. A lot of the time more colorful sites are more resourceful because more time was put into the page, information and appearance.

How to tell if your visiting a good web page. Accuracy- If all the information is accurate, you don’t find different info. On other WebPages. Authority- Who made the page? Was it a kid or a person that studies the subject. Currency- How old is this WebPage? Was this page made or updated in 1998 or was it just last week/2007? Objectivity- What is the objective of this page? Is it to inform or to be funny? Coverage- What information does this WebPage tell you? Is it all about one part of a subject or is it about the whole subject and has all the information you need?

If you think you have a good website still check for: Author Date published/updated Title of Journal Intended Audience Objective reasoning Coverage Writing Style Evaluate the reviews

Is this website selling something? You need to scan through the web page you are at before you start to take information from it. If this website is trying to sell something it is likely it will not have 100% true information because the people or person selling the item will say about anything to try to persuade you to buy the product. Make the product sound as good as possible.

Sources arch/webeval.html arch/webeval.html Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html esearchweb.html esearchweb.html d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou= m m