Information Literacy Quick Write

In order to ensure that research on the internet is trustworthy, certain search tactics must be employed.  When doing the initial search, using the search engine's advanced search options can narrow down the field of information which will result.  Looking to the domain name is the first and easiest way to know if a site is academic or government issued; the domains .edu and .gov are reserved especially for school and government websites.  Upon finding a page, a researcher can look to the publication date to judge the currency or  relevancy of the issue they are researching.  Doing a Google search about the author or the organization which has posted the article or website can vet out unreliable sources or those with an agenda.  Reading the reviews or comments by other readers and users can help by highlighting issues or points about the article or site.  If the website or article has a large number of errors in the writing, or if the website is poorly put together, may be an indicator that the site is unreliable.  When looking at databases, peer-reviewed articles are definitively the most trustworthy sources of information.