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CUG Libraries - Research Techniques: Using Websites

Developing Your Research: Using Websites

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Can I use websites in my assignments? 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 lower-quality content. 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 library staff.

The CRAAP Test

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. View their written guide 'Applying the CRAAP Test' to learn more. Alternatively, contact the Library team.

What about Wikipedia?

Don't reference Wikipedia in academic assignments. Anyone can edit Wikipedia (articles have an 'edit' link next to every section) and the articles are changing all the time. This makes the authority and currency of information harder to determine.

If you are researching a new topic, Wikipedia can provide an easy-to-read summary of the subject. After this introduction, use more academic sources to get in-depth information. The references at the bottom of the Wikipedia article can also be reviewed, but remember that you will need to evaluate these sources too.

What about AI?

Review your assignment brief carefully to check what kinds of AI can be used, and for what purposes.

AI summaries of information generally have similar issues to Wikipedia articles; the authority and currency of the information cannot be determined. Generative AI is getting better at showing the evidence behind the information it provides, but it is still not 100% reliable.

For more information, see the dedicated pages on using AI tools.

Searching Google Effectively

If you are looking for information through Google, there are many advanced search techniques which can help you get to the information you need more quickly. They can also help you to find more reliable information. Read the following for some of the most useful commands, or click the links below for a full list of search tips.

Searching by Domain

You can ask Google to search individual websites or groups of websites sharing a domain. To do this, type site: followed by the web address or domain without any spaces. For example:

  • site:bbc.co.uk would search the BBC website
  • site:gov.uk would search UK government websites
  • site:ac.uk would search UK university websites
  • You can combine this with file type searching. For example, if you search for site:gov.uk filetype:pdf you may be able to find UK government reports.
Searching by File Type

Google can search for documents that are available online based on their file format. To do this, type filetype: followed by the file format with no spaces. For example:

  • filetype:pdf will search for PDF documents
  • filetype:ppt will search for PowerPoint presentations
  • filetype:doc will search for Word documents
  • filetype:xls will search for Excel spreadsheets

Note that newer documents created in Microsoft Office often have an 'x' on the end (e.g. docx instead of doc). You will need to search for these separately.

You can combine this with domain searching. For example, if you search for filetype:ppt site:ac.uk you may be able to find lecture slides from other UK universities.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a free search engine that searches across academic sources: the academic version of Google. Google Scholar will search across all indexed sources including journals, publishers, and universities. 

While you may not get free access to everything, you can usually see the abstract or an earlier version of the article that isn't behind a paywall. Abstracts are an excellent way to see whether an article is of use to you, and usually include a summary of the findings. 

As you are a student of a university, you can set up Google Scholar to show you when an item in the results is available for you to access via the university. Go to the menu, select the settings cog and then the 'Library links' option on the left. In the search bar type 'Coventry University' and press enter, the university will then appear in a list under the search bar. Make sure the box next to 'Coventry University' is ticked. 

Next time you search for something, to the right of each search result you will be able to see whether the full text of the item is available to access through Coventry University, a link with the words 'Locate it' will appear to the right of each item. Other links may also appear showing where you can get the full pdf version of the article; always check the details of these as they may not be the final published version, but these can still be useful if we don't have access to that article via our subscriptions. If the 'Locate it' link appears as an option, always use that. 

Google Scholar also has citations in APA which you can copy, although you should always double check these as they can sometimes have elements missing. Scholar also shows the number of times an article has been cited by other authors; this can be a useful way to find other relevant articles and research related to your topic.

Alternatives to Google
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.
  • Bing
    Bing is Microsoft's search engine. You may find that it gives you very different results to Google. It tracks your searches and collects your data in a similar way to Google.
  • DuckDuckGo
    Worried about privacy? DuckDuckGo doesn't track or save your search history.
  • StartPage
    Like Google but don't like being tracked? StartPage searches Google for you, keeping you anonymous.
  • Dogpile
    Dogpile searches multiple search engines at once, including Google and Yahoo, and brings back the most relevant results from all of them.