Electrical & Electronic Engineering OLD Sep 23: Using Websites

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is 'it depends' - on the website, and on your assignment. There is lots of fantastic and reliable information available for free on the internet, but there is also a lot of rubbish. You should be evaluating all of the information you use in your assignments, but this is particularly important for websites.

This page will give you some resources to help you get started with searching and evaluating websites. If you need any further guidance, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

You should never use Wikipedia as a reference in academic assignments. Anyone can edit Wikipedia (you can try this yourself - most Wikipedia articles have an 'edit' link next to every section) and the articles are changing all the time, so there is no guarantee that the information is reliable.

However, if you are researching a new topic which you know nothing about, Wikipedia can often provide an easy-to-read summary of the subject. After this introduction, you should then use academic sources to go more in depth. You may also wish to check the references at the bottom of the Wikipedia article, but remember that you will need to evaluate these sources too.

When evaluating sources of information, there are lots of factors to consider. The CRAAP Test is a quick check to determine whether a resource is appropriate to use in your assignment.

The CRAAP Test was created by librarians at California State University. For more information,go to the CRAAP Test guide. Alternatively, contact the Academic Liaison Librarian for business.

Did you know that Google tracks your search history and changes the results it gives you based on what it thinks you want to see? Fortunately, Google is not the only search engine out there. So whether you're struggling to make Google give you what you want, or you have concerns about Google's respect for your privacy, you may wish to try out these alternatives: