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The web is full of fun and information but it also holds other inappropriate content.  Filter out what’s safe for you with some simple guidelines.

Searching

• The web has a treasure trove of information and fun stuff.

• Use a good search engine – Google, Firefox and Safari are all safe and reliable.

• The more specific you are, the better the results will be, so use distinct words or phrases for what you’re looking for.

• If you only want results that contain groups of words together, rather than separated throughout the document, put inverted commas around them (e.g. “search the internet”).

• If you don’t get what you want the first time, have a look at the search results you DID get and see if they give you any extra ideas.

Identifying credible sources

• There is stacks and stacks of useful and fun stuff on the web - but remember that nearly anyone can put nearly anything on a website and call it fact - so it pays to think about who’s written the information you’re reading, and why they’ve written it.

• Have a look at the ‘domain’ of the website – sites that are associated with government (.gov or .gov.au) or education facilities (.edu or .edu.au) are generally pretty reliable.

• Use a bit more caution with websites that are .org, .org.au, .com, or .com.au – or those that have a person’s name in the web address.

• Always look at the ‘About Us’ section of the website if there is one. It’s usually a good indication of what interests, bias or attitudes the site’s authors have.

• Generally if the person or organisation who has written the website is credible in the real world, you can have some trust in the information they’ve put in the web.

• If you’re not sure it’s reliable, it’s probably best not to use it for school work or rely on it too heavily.

Referencing and plagiarism

• Using someone else’s ideas or words without making it clear where you got them from is a form of cheating called plagiarism.

• If you’re using someone else’s words, you need to include them in quotation marks (“) and make it clear where you got the quote from (the web address) and when (the date you accessed it). You should also include WHO wrote the quote if you can – but that’s not always clear on a website.

• If you’re using someone else’s ideas, you need to say that you are. Again, include the web address, the date you accessed the information, and the author’s name (if possible).