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Philosophy

Use this guide for help with your philosophy courses and assignments.

Recommended Websites

Evaluating Websites

There are many wonderful and reputable sources on the Internet but often it can difficult to find them after weeding through all other sites that come up in a Google search.

Some criteria to look for include:

  • .com? .net? -- these are commercial sites
  • .org? -- this often indicates a non-profit
  • .gov? -- only government sites have this domain
  • .edu? -- only educational institutions have this domain
What type of domain does this page come from?
  • Is this someone's personal page?
  • What are the author or authors' credentials?
Who wrote the page?
  • Is the information current? When was the page last updated?
  • Are sources documented with footnotes, a list of references or links?
  • Do the links work? Do they link to relevant sites on the topic?
  • Do other reputable sites link to this page (search Google using the link operator: type link:http://www.website.com)
  • Why was this page created? As a joke or satire? To misinform people? To sell a product? Or to provide useful and important information to a broad range or users?