Examining the URL (address) can give clues to the authority of a source. One part of the URL's domain is the host, a three-letter suffix indicating the type of domain:
nowing the origin of a Web page can help evaluate the legitimacy of a page, e.g., if it claims to be a government site, does it have a .gov domain?
The top domains for accurate information are .gov, .edu, .org, BUT...
In the example http://www.jhu.edu/~jsmith/sports, .edu indicates the host is an educational institution, in this case Johns Hopkins University. While this sounds very reputable, the tilde (~) after the type of domain usually indicates a personal web page rather than part of the organization's official website.
The example indicates the site is a file about sports in the folder of someone named jsmith. J. Smith could be an instructor or coach with valuable information to share, or J. Smith might be a student with only unfounded opinions. Extra scrutiny should be applied to such sites.
You can usually erase everything after the three-letter suffix to get to the main page of a site. This can be a valuable location to find out information about the website and its producer(s).
To find out where a domain is registered you can use the WHOIS? search from Network solutions.
Check out these helpful links for more information about evaluating a Website.
For tips on evaluating health information you find online, check out the MedlinePlus Guide to Healthy Web Surfing.
You can limit your search results in Google to pages from a specific domain by adding site:.(domain name) to the end of your search.
For example, to find information about the effects of exercise on diabetes patientspublished only by government agencies, you would search diabetes and exercise site:.gov.
You can even limit your results to pages found at a single site.
For example, to search for information on the same topic found on the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention page (http://www.cdc.gov), you would searchdiabetes and exercise site:cdc.gov.