District 204 Research Handbook
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Research Quality of Websites

These site types and examples are ones that you will usually find your search engine results.  Even though all site types below generally fall into these levels of quality, you should always evaluate all websites on their own merit.

Site Category

Examples


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 Sites in this section generally have a level of credibility and accuracy. These types of sites should be your main source of websites for your works cited list.


Academic Subject Directories (Tool)
Collection of sites selected / evaluated by experts / teachers / librarians

Educational / Cultural Institutions
Museums, zoos and other non-profit educational / cultural organizations

Experts
Sites created and maintained by subject experts (e.g. college professors, journalists, authors)

Government 
Sites created by and maintained by local, state and national governments

News
Traditional news organizations or independent web based journalism sites

Reference
Websites that provide quick reference information facts and short articles that support homework assignments and research projects. Sometimes associated with companies that provide book, television or other media content, they are usually ad-supported, but the content is usually high quality. 

Research / Think Tank / Non Governmental Organization
Organizations that study one or more topics in-depth or are trying to solve social / scientific problems. Staffed by experts / scholars in the subject area. Caution: These organizations sometimes have a political agenda.

Selective & Specialty Search Engines (Tool)
Selective search engines that have generally only included higher quality sites in their index of sites. Specialty search engines only search certain topics or types of sites. Caution: Both include some sties from  the categories below. 

Academic Subject Directories
Infomine, Child & Family WebGuide, Best of History Sites

Educational / Cultural Institutions
Animal Diversity Web (U of M Museum of Zoology), Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago History Museum), Poetry Foundation

Experts
Famous Trials, Alcohol Problems & Solutions,  The Sports Economist, Ypulse

Government 
World Factbook (CIA), Statistical Abstract of the United States (U.S. Census), Diseases & Conditions (CDC), What's Next Illinois? (State of Illinois), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)

News
NPR, Fox News, Pro Publica, Slate, Scientific American, New York Times

Reference
AllMusic, Eric Weisstein's World of Science,  Family Doctor, Merriam-Webster, Infoplease, ProCon.org, Shmoop

Research / Think Tank / Non Governmental Organization
Pew Research Center,  Public Agenda, United Nations, Council on Foreign Relations, Immigration Policy Center,  Heritage Foundation, American Heart Association

Selective Search Engines
Sweet Search, Refseek, USA.gov, Google News,  Full Text Reports, Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic Search, WorldCat.org

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Sites in this category have varying levels of credibility, accuracy and reliability, but they can still be useful additions to your works cited list.


Advocacy
Organization that supports one side of a social or political issue.

Expert Guides
Staffed by volunteer or experts who are paid a small fee per article. They write about a specific topic and curate related web resources. They are often freelance writers or work in a related field.

Non-expert with Sources
Created by any well informed non-expert who has done extensive research and who provides source citations or references / links to their information.
Advocacy
ACLU, PETA,  FreedomWorks, MoveOn

Expert Guides
About.com, AllExperts, eHow, How Stuff Works, Livestrong

Non-expert with Sources
Global Issues, Macrohistory, Shakespeare High, Religious Tolerance

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Sites in this category have low credibility, possible issues with accuracy and reliability and other issues. They could be used at the beginning of your research to understand your topic, but you should not cite them in your works cited list.


Crowd Sourced Information
Informational websites that use volunteers to create their content. Volunteers are usually anonymous, not topic experts and quality of their information can  vary widely.

 No Author or Publisher Information and No Sources
A website created by an unknown author or organization that might be a personal hobby. No author / publisher / source information is provided.

Product Sites
A company that provides information about a topic related to a product they sell (e.g. medical information provided by a pharmaceutical company).


Student Projects  
Class websites / presentations created by K-12 or college students for a class assignment.

Crowd Sourced Information
Answers.com, IMDB, Wikipedia



 No Author or Publisher Information. and No Sources
ViethamWar.net, Antenna Theory



Product Sites
Beef Nutrition, Lillly for Better Health, Mastercard



Student Projects  
Blue Planet Biomes, The Politics of Barbarism
The District 204 Research Handbook is a joint project between the Metea, Neuqua and Waubonsie High School LMCs. ​
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