Tips for Finding Credible Websites for Research

  1. Use site:.edu or site:.gov or site:.mil to search for credible sites in education, government, or military. 
    Example: penguinssite:.edu OR thegreatdepressionsite:.gov

  2. Sites that you find ending in .mil and .gov are ALWAYS reliable sources.

  3. Sites ending in .edu are usually a reliable source.
    Note: some students can publish websites that end in .edu, which means that they may or may not be reliable.  However, the student websites usually have a ~ somewhere in the URL.

  4. Search for an exact match by putting the word/phrase in quotations.
    Example: “Natural Habitat for Zebras”

  5. Use Google’s advanced search feature to find websites with specific dates, exact words, etc.

  6. Google the author’s name from any website article that you read.
    The author should have other publications related to the topic at hand available to view online.

  7. To search for authentic newspaper archives, use Google’s search tool. Some of these newspapers date back to the 1700’s. These are no longer in publication but could be helpful searching for older topics.

  8. Use Google's Scholar search tool to guarantee that you find reliable sources. This site will show you how many times different sources have been cited by others.  Use those sources with the most citations. 
    Example: a search for “the effects of online gaming on teens” returns about 37,000 results.  The first article has been cited 99 times.  Most results will show a link to ‘related articles’, as well.

    Note:  These articles are scholarly, so they are at an advanced reading level.

Click HERE to download and/or print a copy of this page.