Web Site Validity
Anyone can post information on the internet. Most individuals try to keep information as accurate as possible, but a few people may inadvertently or purposefully post false information. How can you determine if the information on a web site is true?
Extensions - all official government site use .gov as their extensions. Most legitimate colleges and universities use .edu as their extensions. These two extensions, .gov and .edu, are the only protected extensions. Anyone can obtain a web site with the other common extensions, .com, .org, .net, etc.
Authorship - Ask yourself this question, who wrote the information? Can the same or similar information be found from another source.
Date - how often is the web site updated. Information posted on CNN is updated much more frequency than information posted on most individuals' personal sites.
Sponsorship - Who is paying for the web site? Is the information bias?
Accuracy - is everything spelled correctly? Does the author use proper grammar? Most valid web sites have staff that consistently check for the accuracy of information posted on their web sites.
