Evaluating Sources

Domain names are the site name portion of a URL (the web address of the site you are looking at). You can get some important information from the ending of a domain name:

• .com = commercial site (for profit, like a company)
• .org = organization (a non-profit, like a charity)

Remember that any person or organization can purchase a .com or .org site ending.

In contrast, there are site endings that are more controlled and cannot be purchased for use:

• .gov = government website (like a government agency)
• .edu = educational (a university, college, or k-12)
• .mil = military

*Pro-tip* There is a way to limit your Google searches to different domain names. Simply enter the following codes in front of your search term to limit results:

site:.edu (limits results to university and school sites)

site:.gov (limits results to government sites)