Research Guides: How to Evaluate Research Sources: Google

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Who Are You?

Pay close attention to the server name and domain name. This is the publisher and it will help reveal who is sponsoring (or hosting) the site. Here are example domains:

.com (commercial)
.edu (educational)
.gov (US government)
.mil (military)
.net (internet resource)
.org (non-profit)

Generally - but not always - .edu and .gov domains offer more credible information because they're generally well-established and well-funded organizations that are staffed by professionals and/or experts. However, as with all sources, remain skeptical. Bias and misinformation can be present in .edu, .gov, and .org sites, just as in others.

Want more Domain name tips? Check out Savvy Info Consumers or Whois.net.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

These websites look authoratative, but, upon closer inspection, they're not.

Boilerplate Purports to contain hitherto-ignored historical research about a robot named "Boilerplate," (see image) that was featured at the Columbian World's Fair of 1883. The site has a real "Ken Burns" documentary feel to it, and contains photos of the robot, along with various artifacts and souvenirs.
DHMO (Dihydrogen Monoxide) Using an unfamiliar name for water, this website (and similar others) lists real effects of this chemical in an attempt to convince people to regulate or ban it.
Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus The Pacific Northwest tree octopus is an Internet hoax created in 1998 by Lyle Zapato. This fictitious endangered species of cephalopod was purportedly able to live both on land and in water, and was said to live in the Olympic National Forest and nearby rivers, spawning in water where its eggs are laid. Its major predator was said to be the Sasquatch. The Pacific Northwest tree octopus website is among a number of sites commonly used in Internet literacy classes in schools, although it was not created for that purpose.

How Trustworthy are Internet Sources?

Transcript for Evaluating Information Online

Video by Michigan State University Libraries

Google Doesn't Have It All

How do I get Google to work for me?

Still not finding what you need? One of the key things to know is that, particularly with scholarly material, not everything is freely available online.

Sometimes the perfect article is only available in print. Or requires a subscription to access through an academic journal. The library likely has access through their subscriptions, which you pay for with your student fees. Librarians can help you figure out how to get what you need.

Advance Your Google Search

A Google Advanced Search can help limit searches to only specific sites or criteria, for example only .gov (government) websites or keywords, languages, etc.

Scholarly Works on Google

Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature - in Google, per se. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. There is a free version - and an SHSU subscription version. As you can guess, you get more with the subscription.

Common Tips & Tricks

There are a multitude of acronyms and tricks to evaluating sources. Use the method preferred by your instructor, knowing that the important component is to develop a habit or pattern you can use when evaluating all information.

W.H.Y.