IRIS 42: Information and Research Instruction Suite for two-year colleges

the a in aspect stands for authority

Look for the sponsoring agency and the authors

The top level domain of the web site's URL (web address) can give you a clue to the site's purpose. The top-level domain is the .com, .edu, .gov, and .org. part of the URL. A .com is commercial, .edu is education, etc. Never make assumptions about the quality of a web site based on the top-level domain. They all need to be evaluated.

The URL for our sample site indicates that this site is an organization. Organizations are made up of people. Click on About Us to learn more about both. Look for names and credentials of the various individuals. You can search these names and institutions to learn more about the individuals, especially what connections they may have that would point to bias on their part.

The About Us page on the web site may tell you the mission or purpose, as well as names of people responsible for the site.

factcheck.org screenshots used with permission

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