Q. What is a scholarly website and how do I find one?

Websites produced by government departments, representing industry bodies, universities or research centers often contain useful information such as statistics, policies, reports and case studies and are considered scholarly.

These websites can be identified by the the following domains contained in the URL/web address:

.gov (government)

.co

.com (commercial organisation)

.org (organisation including charities and international bodies such as UNICEF and UNESCO)

.edu

.ac

To find examples of these websites use your favourite search engine (e.g Google) and enter the relevant keywords. E.g. child labour and .gov

For University or Research Centre websites you could add the following to your search terms:

'Research centre' or 'Research center'

Remember to carefully evaluate results when selecting scholarly websites.

Most subject guides contain a list of suggested websites that are relevant to the subject area. They have already been evaluated and some are scholarly. You can apply the above criteria to identify them. Please ask library staff if you require assistance in doing this. The suggested websites are located under the 'Internet Links' tab at the top of the subject guide page.

You can also check your vUWS page to see if any additional web links have been posted for your research project.