O'Callaghan Middle School

Basic URL information

When examining a website, you can learn a lot by its address or URL. It is the information that you type into the address bar of a browser so you can get to information found on the world wide web (WWW).

http://www.symphonyofscience.com/

All URLs have a domain name suffix. Looking at the above example, the suffix is ".com." The suffix describes the type of organization that is running each website. InterNIC, a special group that administers how internet IP addresses are designated in the United States, has restricted these suffixes to different types of organizations. The most common suffixes are:

.com - commercial group; for use by anyone
.org - a non-commercial group; for use by associations, clubs, etc
.edu - a school, school district, college or university; for specific restricted use
.gov - government group; for specific restricted use
.net - network groups; for use within an internet network service providers (restricted)
.mil - military groups; the military is the only one who can use this!

These suffixes are generally found in the United States. Other international sites use a shortened version of their originating country's name. Some of the more common international suffixes are:

.ar - Argentina (Argentine Republic)
.au - Australia
.ca - Canada
.ch - Switzerland
.cl - Chile (Republic of)
.cn - China (People’s Republic of)
.de - Germany (Federal Republic of)
.es - Spain
.fr - France
.jp - Japan
.mx - Mexico
.nl - the Netherlands
.nz - New Zealand
.uk - United Kingdom

There may be sub-domains in the URL name, too. Some of the more common ones are:

.lib - libraries
.k12 - Kindergarten through 12 grade schools and districts
.state - state government

Knowing how to read a URL can help you to determine what type of content is displayed on that website, possibly what language in which it may be written and whether it is an accurate and reliable site you may want to use for your research.

Analysis example 1: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/

A quick look may have you wondering if this is TIME, the magazine, on the internet. However, you will notice UK is the suffix. This site is located in the United Kingdom. It is not the United States company known as TIME but rather a British paper.

Analysis example 2: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm

The domain suffix .edu lets us know that this site is on Harvard University's network. The pathname contains a tilda (~), which generally means that this is a personal webpage of someone named Witzel. Personal webpages are usually blocked by a district's filtering software, so this is not a site students could visit easily.

Information from URL Anatomy Tutorial and URL: Guide.

What makes a web site GREAT? (PAGE 2)