INDEX: [What are Web Pages?] [How should I use Web Pages?]
[Where can I find Web Pages?] [How do I tell a good Web Page from a bad one?] [Suggested Internet Tools]
“An electronic document written in HTML script, stored on a Web server and accessible using Web browser software at a unique Internet address (URL), usually one of a group of related, interlinked files that together comprise a Web site. A Web page may include formatted text, graphic material, audio and/or video elements, and links to other files on the Internet.”[1] These web pages can be accessed via a connection to the internet and are most often found using search engines or other directories.
Note: Unfortunately web pages can range in quality from world class to maliciously misleading and anywhere in-between. It is not that quality work cannot be found on the internet it is however the nature of the system to have low and high quality work both readily available. Web pages are not universally or automatically bad sources of information. To learn how to determine the good from the bad, see [How do I tell a good Web Page from a bad one?]
Many academic instructors will greatly restrict your use of web pages, particularly for citation purposes; if not outright eliminate them completely. For those course/assignments that you are allowed to cite web pages make sure you cite them according to the standards of the citation system you are using, see User Guide – Citation.
Keep mind that even if your instructor eliminates web pages for citation eligibility there is still enormous advantages to be had in using the internet and its web pages. Web pages can be used for background reading, helping you understand a particular concept or idea, bibliographies, subject guides, author recommendations, questions, discussion, etc. – the possibilities are near endless. Just be careful not to plagiarize.
Most web pages are housed on the internet and can be accessed through a connected PC or other electronic interface. Individual web pages can be found using search engines, web portals, directories, and other index/guides. To see some good examples of these internet finding tools, check out: [Suggested Internet Tools]
As with any source of information, whether that information is in print or electronic format, it behooves the user to be critical of the content regardless of the source. This holds true for web pages, learning to evaluate their source, authority, and content safeguards you from less than scholarly sources of information.
A quick rule of thumb for determining good internet sources is to look at the domain of the web page. By limiting your research to web pages produced by government sites (.gov, .mil, .us, or other country code), educational sites (.edu), or nonprofit organizations (.org) you increase your chances of locating work of quality. Using these web page endings, called domain names, is by no means a guarantee of quality; good research can also be found in the public domain (.com) although maybe not quite as often. Below are two guides to better help you evaluate web pages:
Barker, Joe. "Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply
& Questions to Ask." UC
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ (9 May 2006).
Sharkey, Jennifer. "Evaluating Internet Sources &
Sites: a tutorial." Hicks
Undergraduate
Library.
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/ugrl/staff/sharkey/interneteval/ (9 May 2006).
[1] Reitz, Joan M. ODLIS — Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Libraries Unlimited. http://lu.com/odlis/ (9 May 2006).