Tips for Evaluating Digital Materials
- Look for websites with a non-biased, balanced approach to presenting sources.
- Try and determine who is responsible for the site.
- The website address or the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) may provide a clue.
- Look for the 3-letter domain code of the website address to determine who maintains the site.
- Common domain names include: .gov (U.S. government site); .org (organization or association site); .com (commercial site); or .net (personal site).
- Look for credentials, contact addresses, and an "about" link.
- The most reliable websites clearly state the source of original materials.
- Beware of transcriptions when they are not linked to a digitized image of the original source document..