Finding resources: Websites

Websites can be useful source for finding additional information.

You do however have to be vigilant and evaluate all sources found on websites.

If you need any further guidance, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Depending on your course and your assignment, it can sometimes be appropriate to use websites as well as academic sources. Unfortunately, while there are fantastic and reliable information freely available on the internet, there is also a lot of content which is of low quality or inappropriate to use.

The P. A. R. C. test

You will need to assess all sources for Purpose, Authority, Reliability, and Currency, otherwise known as the P. A. R. C. test before inclusion in your academic writing.

Think about:

• the author/company
• date
• purpose for which the website was created
• web address - you can sometimes tell if it is an official website by the wording of the address.

Avoid using Wikipedia as a reference in academic assignments. Anyone can edit Wikipedia (you can try this yourself - most Wikipedia articles have a link next to every section). Articles are changing all the time and there is no guarantee that the information is reliable. Wikipedia may be helpful to give an overview of a specific topic when starting a new area of research and you may wish to review the cited articles available at the end of a Wikipedia entry.