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The Hulbert Taft, Jr. Library

Honors US History: Civil War Podcast Project: Websites

Find Credible Websites

Anyone can post anything on the internet, so it's important to find credible websites with information you can rely on. 

Here are several ways to do that:

  • Limit your search to the domains edu and gov for more credible, reliable results. Edu is the domain for U.S. educational institutions such as colleges and universities. Gov is the domain of the U.S. government. Note that a tilde ~ in the URL may signify a teacher's or student's personal page which may not be monitored by the school. Also note that information residing in the gov domain, while still generally reliable, may be incomplete at this time (11/18/20).
  • Search a web directory such as SweetSearch which leverages Google to search only a fully vetted "whitelist" of websites.
  • Use the CRAAP Test to evaluate a website.

Sites

To find reliable websites:

  • Britannica Academic includes links to recommended websites.
  • SweetSearch: a Search Engine for Students which leverages Google to search only a fully vetted "whitelist" of websites.
  • Google Advanced Search
    • Limit your search to domains generally considered to be more reliable by including the phrase site:gov OR site:edu  (gov for U. S. government agencies; edu for educational institutions in the U.S.)
    • Note the search tips to the right of the search fields.
    • Here's an example for a topic on economics of the Civil War. Think about other terms you can swap in and out.                                                  

Library of Congress Digital Collections: American History Searchable primary source collections at the Library of Congress; browse by topic, media, place, or time period.

Best of History Websites: American History from EdTechTeacher.org

Biography of America From Annenberg Learner educational resources.

The Black Past: Remembered & Reclaimed The "Google" of African American history includes an online encyclopedia, primary sources, and much more.

Digital History Comprehensive U.S. history website, including primary sources, from the Univ. of Houston's College of Education.

Discovering American Women's History Online Digital collections of primary source materials browsable by subject, place, time period, and source type.

Essential Civil War Curriculum Produced by today's foremost Civil War historians, this site from the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech contains a definitive list of over 325 topics that every student of the Civil War should study.

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is one of the great archives in American history. Drawing on the 70,000 documents... and an extensive network of eminent historians, the Institute provides teachers, students, and the general public with direct access to unique primary source materials. Register for open access during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web An annotated guide to the best web resources in American history, including primary sources and websites. Developed by American Social History Project/Center for Media & Learning, City University of New York, and the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University.

History of U.S. Foreign Relations comes from the Office of the Historian, U.S. Dept of State, and includes documents.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FINDING RELIABLE WEBSITES, GO TO THE GUIDE FIND AND EVALUATE WEBSITES.

NoodleTools Tips: Websites

PLEASE NOTE: Do not copy and paste complete citations from web pages if given. NoodleTools cannot generate footnotes from copied and pasted citations. 

For a new citation, click on +New Source.

Choose Website.

Websites can contain all kinds of resources: reference or ebook content, journal articles, primary sources, etc. And sometimes they are just a series of original pages, often each with its own unique title.

If you can determine the specific type of source on the webpage (for instance, a newspaper article or the transcript of a speech), choose that source type from the list under Website. If it's not clear what type of source it is, choose Webpage. 

If you're not sure what to choose, email Mr. Padgett or Ms. Taylor.

We're happy to help!