How can you tell whether you're looking at a good source or a bad one? Here are some tips:
Look at the name:
Find the contact information:
Look for sources:
If you're using Google to find websites, try including one of the following domains in your search to ensure the most high-quality results.
EXAMPLE
A search for government websites only involving the term "social security" looks like this:
A search for institutions of higher education websites only involving the term "public policy" looks like this:
In either case, you simply follow your search terms with the word "site," a colon, a period, and the domain you want.
You can also try site:.org and site:.int, but sometimes those sites can still be questionable.
Keep in mind that international higher education sites (for example, those from Canada, the U.K., Australia, etc.) do not use the .edu domain. Instead, try looking for the .ac (academic institutions) domain.