With such an overwhelming amount of information available at the touch of a button, it can be very difficult to determine which online resources you can trust and which you can’t. Information online can range from things like vasectomy reversal to many explicit sex sites which is why you must be wary when it comes to your child and the internet. These days anyone can post something on the Internet and it is important to distinguish between credible sources of information and those that aren’t reliable or factually accurate.
Resources you can rely on
Government websites
Government websites are an excellent source of reliable information, facts and statistics on a very wide range of subjects such as finances, education, health and employment. The DirectGov website is a great place to start, as it provides links to the websites of every Government department, ensuring that you will easily find detailed, helpful and accurate information on the subject you want to find out more about. If you want information about a local area, local council websites are also an indispensable source of reliable information.
Online Encyclopaedias and Journals
Credible academic resources such as Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encarta and the Oxford Journals provide accurate, factual information that has been written and approved by experts. Questia is also an excellent online academic resource, especially for students, with a full text online library of over 70,000 copyrighted books and two million articles at your disposal. The downside to online resources like these however, is that many require a subscription fee before you can access any information. Although, students can often access such facilities for free through their University library.
Resources to avoid
Wikipedia
Although Wikipedia offers a plethora of information on just about any subject imaginable, it can often be inaccurate or incomplete. Users can add, edit and remove content from any page and it is not considered a trusted source for research references.
Special interest websites
Sites that champion a specific cause, such as environmental or animal rights issues, should not be relied upon to provide accurate, factual information, because in general such sites are biased and aim to persuade people to adopt a certain way of thinking.