Internet site

Internet Sites originate from a variety of sources and contain an equally wide variety of types of information, including advertising, personal stories and narratives, biographical information business memos, news, research, and statistics, as well as professional journals and publications.

It is important to determine exactly what type of site you are viewing and to understand any underlying biases that may make the site an inappropriate resource.

The internet sources must be analyzed individually.

Not all education and government sites will be appropriate for your particular research need; likewise, a commercial site is not necessarily an inappropriate source of information.

The Following comprise the major categories of Internet Sites.

§  Government Sites

§  Education Sites

§  Non-Profit Sites

§  Business / Marketing Sites

§  Personal Web Pages

§  Advertisements

§  Discussion Groups

Government Sites:

§  Government Sites may provide laws, statistics, directories, timely information on issues concerning all citizens, or information about government agencies.

§  These sites are not only some of the most widely available on the Internet, but some of the most useful and reliable.

§  The domain name .gov is an indication that the site is a government one though some government agencies use other domain names.

§  A web site is made up a bunch of files.

Education Sites:

§  Education Sites may provide scholarly works from academic departments, course syllabi, class schedules, home pages of colleges and high schools, online courses, library catalogs and links to information databases.

§  Education sites tend to be reliable, though individual student or faculty pages may vary in authority.

§  The domain name .edu is an indication that the site is from an educational institution, though not all education sites have such a domain name.

Non-Profit Sites:

§  A non- profit site is one sponsored by an organisation attempting to influence public opinion.

§  Non-Profit organisations may provide studies, statistics and resources.

§  The domain name .org is an indication that the site is from a non-profit or advocacy group.

News Sites:

§  The Primary purpose of a news site is to provide current information about newsworthy topics.

§  In many cases, these sites will provide the most up-to-date information available.

§  Most major metropolitan newspapers and television news networks maintain web sites.

§  As these are commercial operations, the domain name .com will most frequently be found with a news site.

§  Some typical news sites include the following:

·         CNN

·         The New York Times

·         Policy.com

Business Sites:

§  A business or marketing web page is one sponsored by a commercial enterprise.

§  Business Sites may provide such resources as annual reports, company histories, stock quotes, and product advertising.

§  These sites may actively promote the sale of items.

§  The Domain name .com will be most frequently found with this type of site.

Personal Sites:

§  A personal web page is one by an individual not officially associated with an educational, organizational or governmental institution.

§  These pages vary greatly in terms of content and quality control and should be used cautiously as a source of factual information.

§  Personal Sites may provide a number of links to other sites that may be reliable.

§  A variety of domain names may be used for a personal web page.

§  Frequently, the name of the person will be part of the URL.

Advertisements:

§  Increasingly, many web sites are supported by advertisements.

§  This usually takes the form of a banner or hyperlink.

§  As a consumer it is your job to decide whether there is a conflict of interest between the sponsor and the objectivity of the web site.

§  The presence or absence of advertisements does not automatically brand a web site as bad or good.

§  Sites must be evaluated individually according to the basic criteria below.

§  A web formercial is comparable to a television infomercial.

§  If the site disguises itself as an informational site, it should be viewed cautiously.

Discussion Groups:

§  Discussion Groups, have their own set of criteria and problems related to quality control.

§  It is fair to assume that most all conversations on mailing lists, newsgroups and in chat rooms are opinion.

§  Because messages to most of these groups are processed by software packages, there is little or no attempt to control the content.

§  Look for a link from the signature to the credentials of writers or home page to help judge the credibility of the posting.

§  Messages taken out of context, or read out the thread of the discussion topic can also lead to problems, so you should read the entire discussions.