Transcript Slide 1

What can you learn about the web site
information from the URL?

Every Web site has it own unique address, called a URL
(Uniform Resource Locator).

The format for a URL is standardized worldwide, and will look
something like this:

This Internet address, or URL, is made up of several parts,
divided by a slash(/) :
For example:
http://www.nasa.gov/visitors.html
protocol
domain
file name


The domain name can give you a lot of information about the
type of information you might expect on a web site, and is
unique for every web site.
The domain name usually has 3 main sections after the www,
separated by dots.
For example:
This first part is the
name of the
organization which
created the website,
e.g. Zayed University
www.zu.ac.ae
Next is the type
of organization
– this is VERY
important!
Last is the
country code,
e.g. ae=UAE
or uk=United
Kingdom
Education or Academic
such as a university
Purpose is to educate:
reliable information

.edu or .ac


.com or .co


.org

Non-profit organization  Purpose is varied:
some good information
e.g. unesco.org

.gov

Government


.net

Network (or hub)

What will you
see in the URL?
Commercial
e.g. bbc.co.uk
What does this stand
for?

Purpose is to sell:
some good information

Purpose is to inform:
reliable but biased info.
Purpose is varied: not
necessarily reliable info.
What is the purpose
of this website?
So, what web information is best for
an academic assignment?
… your turn now!