Extended Essay: Relevance

Relevance:  The importance of the information for your needs

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience? 
•  Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable citing this source in your research paper?

On this page you can learn:

How to use WSA's WebPath Express to find relevant websites
How to think about whether a website is relevant (an example)

WebPath Express, a collection of more than 85,000 trustworthy, relevant websites, is part of the WSA library catalog.  You can search WebPath Express using Universal Search.

WebPath sites are vetted (screened) by Follett's librarians for accuracy and reliability, and  more than 1,200 new sites are added every month!  Every web site in a search results list gives a summary of what's on the site or specific page, the grade level range (6-8, 9-12), subject covered, and the link.  When you search the WSA catalog, results will include both our print resources and sites in the WebPath Express collection. 

The results in a Universal Search are shown in four tabs:  All, Books, Digital (eBooks), and Databases.  Click on the Databases tab, then the 'Show Resources' button to the right of the WebPath Express icon.

Find relevant resources using Webpath Express!  

You will usually find a huge number of resources on a subject but they will only be useful if they are relevant to the particular topic you are studying.

If, for example, you are do a web search using the terms ""astronomical observatories" and "Mauna Kea"you may come across the two sites shown in the links below.  Which of these sites would be at an appropriate level for a research project?