Reliability of Internet Information

How do search engines work?
Search Engines really just collect information about web pages, to help you find what you are looking for.  (They are run by Browsers, like Chrome or Firefox.)  Unfortunately, they are not so great at providing accurate information, and even worse at evaluating information.  They only can give you what can be found on the Internet.  Ranking in a search can be affected by: how often your terms are on the web page, where they are on the page, if the web page wants people looking for those terms to see it, how many other web pages link to that web page, and even how much a web site pays to be listed in your search.  (When I search, I usually skip PAST the ‘search results’ that are actually ADS, often listed at the beginning of your results.) Each search engine works slightly differently, as does each browser.  But always remember, the search engines are designed to make money, not to provide accurate information.

What information is reliable?
There are (of course!) some great web pages available to give information about how to judge the reliability of web pages.  A few such pages from College libraries are listed here:
https://library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/evaluating-internet-content
https://www.sccollege.edu/Library/Pages/EvaluatingInformationontheInternet.aspx
https://guides.library.jhu.edu/evaluate/internet-resources
https://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_08.phtml

Here are some guiding principles:
Authority
Does the site list an author? Is there a sponsor? 
A sponsoring organization, can tell you a lot about potential biases.
You also should know what the author's credentials and biases are. 
Are they experts on the topic they are writing about? 
What is their educational background?
What is their background in this field?
Do they have a bias?
Is there a list of sources?
Sources are a great way to check reliability of information.
(A list of sources is also helpful if you are writing a paper.)
Currency
Information may be outdated, incorrect or incomplete. 
A Web site should say when it was last updated
when it was originally created
when the data was collected that was used.
Accuracy
Are sources listed?  
Can the sources be verified elsewhere?  
Are statements consistent with inf other sources?  
Do web pages with a different perspective 
agree on the stated facts?
Objectivity
Does the author acknowledge any bias?
(An author who acknowledges biases may be fair.)
Does the author express a particular point of view?
(Find another page to get a different point of view.)
Does the author slant the information?
Does the author avoid emotionally charged language?
Does the author avoid personal attacks?
Does the author avoid logical fallacies?
Does someone with an opposing view 
recognize their view, as presented?

Fairness
Does the author acknowledge other points of view? 
Are other points of view treated fairly?
Would a person with an opposing viewpoint 
recognize themselves in this web page?
(Way too often, due to slant, misinformation, prejudice, or simply natural bias, a person who disagrees with the argument may not even recognize their [opposing] position.  If you cannot fairly present the views of those who disagree with you, then you will find it difficult to establish a meaningful dialog.)

For example, people in favor of abortion do not see themselves as ‘baby killers’; people opposed to abortion do not see themselves as ‘forcing women into slavery’.

Bias Confirmation
Be careful how you word your search.  For example, if you search for “was the Holocaust a hoax?” you will get articles arguing for and against the idea that it was a hoax.  But if you search for “Holocaust” you will get articles by historians about the Holocaust, with little mention of the allegations of hoax. If you search for “was Obama born outside the US?” you will get articles alleging he was, but if you search for “birthplace of Obama” most sources say he was born in Honolulu.   Remember that the search engines are trying to match your search terms; if you include the term hoax, it will search for articles that use the word hoax.  You get very different search results if you search for “abortion baby killers” versus searching for “abortion forced pregnancy”.  

Comparison
NEVER take one web page as the Gospel truth, unless you are a Christian, and you really like https://www.thegospeltruth.org/.
😊
www.Wikipedia.org is only as accurate as the people who post articles for it, but it can be useful as a quick fact check.  (Even Wikipedia itself has guidelines for evaluating articles, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evaluating_Wikipedia_brochure.pdf) 

If information is accurate, it will be found easily in multiple sources.  Consider checking www.factcheck.org.
Consider stopping by your public or school library, and ask the librarian for help.  By the way, libraries have access to sources that are NOT on Google, but are MORE reliable.
And they also have PRINT BOOKs, and magazines, and other cool stuff!

Links
Many broken links may indicate the site is not well maintained.

Check the URL:
The URL, at the top of the web page, may give an idea about sponsorship.  For example, https://www.amazon.com/author/krtoolkien
Indicates it is a commercial page, run by Amazon, but the reliability is solely determined by one individual author, K.R. Toolkien.  Most organizations choose meaningful URL names, but be aware, a scammer can often choose a name SIMILAR TO a well-known one to trick you.
If you get an email from, for example: Amazon.com<quickbooks@notification.intuit.com> you are being scammed. Amazon, quickbooks, and intuit all sound legit, but that is not AMAZON’s address!

Look at the suffix.
.com
Commercial site. Most likely, someone is making money off of this site.
.edu
Educational institution. Schools are fairly reliable, but sometimes individual students or faculty are using it as a personal web page.
.gov
Usually a credible source, always a government source.
.org
Traditionally a non-profit organization. Some non-profits, of course, have biases towards specific points of view.
.mil
Military. The military has its perspective, but you can usually count on a *.mil to accurately represent the military point of view.
.net
Network, a catch-all. Give careful scrutiny.

Look at the country:
.au	Australia
.in	India
.br	Brazil
.it	Italy
.ca	Canada
.mx	Mexico
.fr	France
.tw	Taiwan
.il	Israel
.uk	United Kingdom