How to find a better Website: Home

Currency: the timeliness of the information

• When was the information published or posted?
• Is the information current or out-of date for your topic?
• Are the links functional?

Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?

Authority: the source of the information

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or e-mail address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source? (.com, .edu, .gov, .org)

Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?

Purpose: the reason the information exists

• What is the purpose of the information?
• Is the information fact? opinion? propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?

Explicit Phrase: Google searches for each word separately. If you want to search a specific phrase, put it in qoutation marks and google will search the phrase you want. Example Search: "inbound marketing" All results must have inbound marketing together in the right order.

Exclude Words: Sometimes your results will include content you do not want. If you want to exclude these results,simply use the - sign in front of the word you want to exclude.  For the example you art telling Google to exclude any advertising results from your inbound marketing search. Example Search: inbound marketing -advertising

Words in the Text: If you want to find a webpage where all the terms you're searching for appear in the text of that page (but not necessarily beside each other), type in allintext: followed immediately by words or phrases. Example Search: allintext:vermont ski house lake

Word Definitions: If you need to quickly look up the definition of a word or phrase, simply use the define: command. Search Example: define:plethora

Information in a Specific Website: If you're looking for information related to a specific website, you can use the site: command. Search Example: star wars site: nytimes.com. Or you can look for look for information in a specific URL by using the site: command. Example: star wars site:.com.