French IV: Research Paper: WEBSITES

Websites can be reliable information sources, but you must evaluate their credibility before citing them for an assignment. For every website, consider:

• Currency (look for a date)
• Relevance (appropriate for academic work)
• Authority (purpose or organization with expertise)
• Accuracy (fact based)
• Purpose (educational, commercial)

If you use Google to find sources, make sure your information comes from institutions that are more likely to produce reliable information. Limit your searches by entering one of these phrases in front of your search terms:

• site: (See FRENCH SPEAKING NATIONS) --> to find sources published on websites hosted by other countries
• site:.gov --> to find only sources from U.S. government websites
• site:.edu --> to find only sources from educational or research institutions. Be careful not to use student work!
• site:.org --> to find only sources from organizations, such as non-profits or NGO's

EXAMPLE:

To search sites in France that discuss water pollution, create the following search in Google:

site:.fr pollution de l'eau

To search for U.S. government websites focused on water pollution, create the following search in Google:

site:.gov water pollution

Find articles from French media sources, who will cover issues that the community is discussing. Make sure that when searching in a French media website, you use keywords in French.