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English 101 Fall 2017: Surfing the Internet

Quick Tips

Internet Dog

Google's advanced search allows you to search by domain name (on bottom line of the advanced search form).

Entering .edu or .gov into this line will only return results from educational or US government sites, which tend to contain more reliable scholarly or factual information.

Google Scholar uses Google's search interface to find academic sources without the commercial aspects of plain Google.

 

Internet Search Tips

Pick one or two search engines and learn how to use them well.

Refer to the HELP features to make sure you can create a search that will find the most relevant items and eliminate marginal and unhelpful sites.

Consider using Google Scholar. A Google Scholar search eliminates the advertising and commercial sites and helps you locate scholarly items.

Use critical thinking skills and evaluate the websites you find.

Websites: Can you trust what's on the net?

Most of the time when you are searching databases provided by a school or university, the content has a good chance of being reliable. 

However, when searching the internet via Google or other search engines, the chances of finding unreliable sites is much higher.

Check out the following websites and evaluate them for credibility:

  • Do the above sites seem like authoritative resources? Why or why not?

Use critical thinking skills and evaluate the websites you find!