Before each book arrives in a typical high school library, a book must go through several reviews.  The publishing company and editor must review the book.  The book is reviewed in professional journals. In addition, the librarian at an individual school reviews the book before it is placed on the library shelves.

Web pages do not go through this process.  Anyone can publish a web page.

Compare these two web pages.  Which one do you think is a reliable source for information about AIDS?

• Number One
• Number Two

5 W's for Evaluating Web Sites

Mankato, Minnesota

Try this one!

Alternative Medicine:

Ntl' Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine:  http://nccam.nih.gov/

Medline Plus  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbalmedicine.html

QuackWatch  http://www.quackwatch.com/index.html

Domain Name:  (Don't always trust the web site by the code.)
.com  - commercial                                         .net - network
.gov - governmental                                        .edu - educational
.org - non profit organization

Geocities.com provides free web page publishing over the Internet .  If you see geocities.com, be aware that it is from the public domain (mainstream).

Back to the Research Process

Becca Stith, copyright 2002
Blue Valley West High School