BUS 101: Ciampi

The URL for a site can tell us a great deal about the kind of information we will find there.

All URLs have a domain name and an extension.

The domain name is, in most instances, the name of the website itself, the organization hosting the site, or its abbreviation. The extension tells you what type of organization the website is. Put together this would look like https://www.domainname.extension.

Let's look at a few real websites and break down their URLs.

The domain extension (the three letters after the dot in a web address) can tell us a lot about the information we’ll find on a site. Reliable information can be found on all types of sites, but each type is usually trying to do one of four things – sell, persuade, entertain, or inform – and it’s not always obvious which one.

.COM - Commercial Sites

• Commercial sites are selling something. They are also often designed to entertain.
• They may be directly selling (like Amazon.com) or making money through ads on the page.
• Sometimes content is presented in such a way that it seems they are not selling at all, but any .com (or .net) site has profit as its goal, and so should be evaluated carefully.
• This is not to say that information on .coms is false, or even unreliable, but it may not be objective.

.ORG - Non-profit Organization

• Non-profit organizations are often viewed positively because we associate the term "non-profit" with charities and social betterment causes.
• However .orgs are still often trying to convince or persuade - perhaps raise awareness, solicit donations, or advocate for a political cause (for instance many political campaign sites are .orgs).
• Sites promoting awareness of a condition, disease, or social cause are often reliable and can provide good data (usually in a Research section), but should always be cross-checked for bias.

.EDU - Educational Institutions

• Associated with schools, colleges, and universities. Most often their purpose is to inform.
• Since many experts (researchers, professors, PhDs, etc.) work at these types of institutions, these sites can be great sources for reliable research information.
• Be careful of course sites within a .edu that may be mostly student work instead of expert research. If you see a course number on a document (like ENG101 or COM111) it’s probably student work.

.GOV - US Government or Military

• Government sites are generally credible because they cannot be political action sites (like campaign sites etc.) These are also mostly used to inform, but some sites may change tone and focus depending on the agenda of the currently governing party.
• .gov sites are often an excellent place to find research information on many topics - health, sciences, demographics, education, criminal justice, careers, and social issues.
• These sites are also often some of the best sources for statistics and data.