Scan the Page and the Site At Large to Get Further Clues
 
While there is no standardization of how a web page should be organized, most professional pages have a header, body, and footer.  You may sometimes have to go to the home page (the introductory page) of the page you have found to find it.  Granted, there are reliable web sites out there that may not use all three (or even any) and there are lots of spoof sites as well as questionable sites that are also presented professionally. 
 
 

Here's a quick laundry list of what you can learn when these pages exist:

  • Author or contact person (Usually in the footer.  Sometimes header).
  • When not the home page, a link to the home page (Usually in the footer.  Sometimes header).
  • Name of Institution (header or footer)
  • Date of creation or revision (footer, when there)
  • Intended Audience (determined by examining the body)
  • Purpose of the Information (determined by examining the body)

 

A drawing of a web page with a Header (which can have the name of the institution or author), the body (which will often clue the reader what is the purpose of information and what is the intended audience)and footer (which can list the contact person, last revision address, and its web address)

If it is not the home page and there is no link back to the home page, go to the URL above and start removing each portion (they're called directories or folders) between right slashes.  Usually the home page of the site will not have a completely different address. 

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