Here are some things to look for when evaluating websites:

• author or editor: can you find an author or editor for the information that is posted on the website?  Are they scholars in the field, or have a PhD in a relevant field?  If you can't find the name of an individual, there may be an organization, board, or committee responsible for the website content.  Check the "about us" section of the website to find out more information.
• publisher: in the case of websites, this is usually the sponsoring organization or entity behind the website, such as a university, government organization, cultural organization, or company (.edu, .gov, .org).  Again, the "about us" section can be a good place to start to find out more, but googling or looking at their entry on Wikipedia may give you a better idea of what they really do.
• date of publication: look for information to indicate the last date that the page was updated.  This may be the copyright date at the bottom of the website, other information on the site that refers to specific events, or bylines, in the case of news organizations.  If the last date you can find on the page is more than 5-10 years ago, is the information you are referencing time-sensitive?  For some topics, that might be fine, for others it might be out of date.
• citations or bibliographies: does the website indicate where the information posted comes from?  Do they cite the sources they used to prepare their own information?  Citations may be indicated by links within the content of the page, or referred to within the text, rather than compiled at the end, as they might be in a book or journal article.
• charts, data, images, etc...:  does the source take advantage of its online format by including visual content?  Is it presented in a straight-forward way that doesn't appear to be manipulated.

Web resources can be really great sources of scholarly information!  Many reports and documents are posted freely online from groups such as:

• government agencies
• research institutes
• cultural organizations
• non-governmental organizations
• thinktanks
• educational institutions
• charities
• scholarly societies & associations

As you will be using these sources for research, you need to do your due diligence to confirm that what you find online is from a reliable source and can be trusted.  Use tips in the box to the left to help you evaluate what you find. 

Wait until you have done some research via books and articles before jumping into google.  You may locate some leads through the scholarly sources you find, such as the name of a researcher working on your topic (are they connected to an institute, or scholarly society? where do they get their funding?) or an organization that supports research in an area you are interested in (a UN committee, an international thinktank).  As you continue to research, you may find that these organizations have annual reports, data sets, or research summaries available on their websites.