RESEARCH PAPER RESOURCES
HOW TO DETERMINE IF A WEBSITE IS CREDIABLE
How to Determine a Credible Website
What is the date on the website or article you are looking at? i.e. how old is the
information you are looking at? Is it current? Is it frequently updated?
Who wrote the webpage / article? Are they credible? Do they give citations /
references to credible authors / websites that they have used in their material?
What type of domain is the website? An educational — edu website can be written by
any student with space on their college’s server. It does not mean the website and or
information contained within the website is factual or even credible.
Likewise, a pharmaceutical website may offer information on a drug you’re researching,
but more than likely if it is a drug they are selling their website is going to offer a slanted
or biased view of the drug and not an objective opinion offering both the pros and the
cons of the product.
Is the page valid?
Is it documented with footnotes or links? That is, does the author of the website or
article cite credible sources within their work or point you to credible sources via URLs,
such as a medical article with links to a source in the New England Journal of Medicine?
Finally, ask yourself:
Is this as good a resource as I could find in the library or through a library database
(remember the library’s sources have been screened by librarians)?
The Internet can be a source of informative websites, but in order to find the good
information the Internet has to offer a little detective work is needed. And it will save
you time and potential frustration in your research work!
If you’re still not sure of a websites validity you can always ask your teacher.
source: http://www.svc.edu/library/docs/credible_websites.pdf
RESEARCH SCAFFOLDING WORKSHEET LINK
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1155/scaffold.pdf
INTERNET CITATION ORGANIZER
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson983/organizer-form.pdf
RESEARCH PAPER SOURCES INSTRUCTION:
ALABAMA VIRTUAL LIBRARY WEBSITE: http://www.avl.lib.al.us/
CLICK ON STUDENT RESOURCES
ON THE DROP DOWN MENU CLICK HIGH SCHOOL
SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU FIND EBSCO host Search
Type your topic into the search bar
you can find credible resources here!
