Quick to pick up

easy to use

Use the link: command to see what organizations and authors link to the page you are evaluating.

Click here for a MicroModule about this special operator

Links To

Knowing all the websites that link to a webpage can help you assess the credibility of that web page.

If reputable authors or organizations link to a web page, it reinforces the credibility of the information on that page. On the other hand, if disreputable, unknown, or spam-type sources link to a web page, treat the information cautiously.

Using this technique effectively requires formatting the links: operator correctly.  Understanding this operator will help you answer this question:

If this page contains credible information, what experts or organizations would I expect to find linking to it?

1. Advanced Search options often include the link: operator. Just copy and paste the url of the page you want to evaluate into the link: operator box and search. A list of all the sites in the search engine database that link to the page will be returned. An option is just to type in link: followed by the url (leaving no space between the operator and the url). For example: link:21cif.imsa.edu.

2. Using the example above, link:21cif.imsa.edu, who would you expect to find linking to this page if the information is credible? When we ask this question in workshops we often hear responses like: libraries, schools and universities. A check of the links to the 21cif home page, outside of links from 21cif pages, reveals 196 examples, including:

Librarian Blogs on Google Scholar. TJ Sondermann, a reference librarian in Massachussetts, started a blog about Google Scholar. ...
www.workingfaster.com/sitelines/archives/2005_01.html

Teacher Links. --- Use your browser's back button to return to this page. ---. WEB GUIDES AND GATEWAYS. Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Teachers — “...a ...
teacherweb.com/pa/uasd/eslibrary/hf1.stm

Focus on 21st Century Students. 2005 AETA Fall Symposium. 21. st. Century Learning. • www.21stcenturyskills.org. • www.genyes.com. • www.edutopia.org ...
teacherweb.com/pa/uasd/eslibrary/hf1.stm

These are the types of websites we'd expect to find. This gives us greater confidence in the credibility of the 21cif site information.

If, on the other hand, no one outside of 21cif linked to the site, it might mean the information is new and hasn't been linked to yet or no one finds it valuable enough to link to. If hoax sites linked to it, it would raise additional questions about its credibility.

Practice it now:

Try using the link: operator with the following pages --

The first shot of the class war -- http://www.angelfire.com/biz7/firstshot/

The Air Car -- http://www.theaircar.com/howitworks.html

Answers here