A Guide to Thinking About What You See on the Web presentation

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Title: A Guide to Thinking About What You See on the Web

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A Guide to Thinking About What You See on the Web

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Survey -

Take a few minutes to answer the survey questions
at the following web site.
http//lg014.k12.sd.us/computers/web_sites.htm
click on Evaluating Web Sites Survey
http//lg014.k12.sd.us/Evaluating20Web20Sites20
Survey.doc
When you are finished with the survey, please
print your answers and turn it in.

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Form A

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Evaluating Web Sites

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Who

Try to find out who wrote or created the Web
pages -- not just their names, but something that
indicates they are a "good source."
Sometimes pages will provide an about the author
link, but usually you will have to dig around.
You can try googling an author, but you can also
check the URL itself for important clues.

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Who continued

Truncating the URL by deleting the all the
characters after each slash (/) until you get to
the first one is a good way to find out what
person, organization, or institution is
responsible for the site. The URL
http//www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think3.html
reveals that this page is connected to the
Library at Ithaca College.
You would think that an author wouldnt be
writing unless he or she was an expert on the
topic, but that is not always true.

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Domain Names

Check the top level domain of the site's URL.
Here are some of the most common domains
.edu educational site (universities and colleges)
.com commercial business site and personal sites
.gov U.S. non-military governmental site
.mil U.S. military site
.net networks and internet service providers
.org U.S. non-profit organizations
You can generally expect the information on .gov
and .mil sites to be accurate.
The information on .edu sites is generally
accurate. However, they range from research
forums to joke collections.
if an .edu site also has a tilde symbol () in
the address, it is a personal page and needs
further evaluation.
Whether a .com is a personal web page or a
commercial site, it warrants a different kind of
scrutiny than a .gov page.

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What

Try to identify the reason the Web page was
created in the first place. Determine if the main
purpose is to inform, to persuade, or to sell you
something. Advertising and opinion can both be
disguised. If you know the motive behind the
page's creation, you can better judge its
content.
Another important question to ask is--What is not
being said?
Since money talks, try to notice who is paying
for the site, either through advertising or
sponsorship. Both can affect content. Whether
bias is intentional or not, it is a factor.

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When

Is the page dated? Is it current enough?
Especially with time-sensitive or evolving
topics.
Undated factual or statistical information is no
better than anonymous information.
How recent the date needs to be depends on your
needs.
For some topics you want current information.
For others, you want information put on the web
closer to the time it became known.
In some cases, the importance of the date is to
tell you whether the page author is still
maintaining an interest in the page, or if it has
been abandoned.

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Where

Almost anyone can put almost anything on the Web
for almost any purpose. Look for vagueness,
scheming, and bias.
Accuracy is not easy to confirm. Information on a
site cannot be evaluated unless you compare it to
other sources. As with any research, you must
test one source against another.
Unfortunately, sometimes facts can be misleading.
Look at five or six different Web sites and you
might get five or six different answers.

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Where

Internal clues can tell you much about a Web
page.
Check for the obvious things, such as good
grammar and correct spelling. Is the language
simple or technical and demanding? Look for
documentation of the facts being presented. Look
for the date the page was last revised.

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Why

Make sure you are in the right place.
Ask yourself why you are using the Web. Don't use
the Web because it is fun and easy use it when
it is the appropriate source for the information
you are seeking.
An hour on the Web may not answer a question that
you could find within two minutes of picking up a
reference book.

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Questions to ask yourself

Who is responsible for the site? Do the authors
have any authority or expertise? Do they provide
you a way to contact them? Is this a commercial,
governmental, personal, or academic Web site?
What is the purpose of the site? Is the main
purpose to inform, to persuade, or to sell you
something? Do you understand what is being said?
Are the facts documented? What do you think has
not been said that should be addressed?
When was the site created? Is it updated? Do the
links work? Is the site well organized? Are there
misspelled words or poor grammar? Do they send
you beyond the site to other reliable sources of
information? Are the graphics on the page clear
and helpful or distracting and confusing?
Where -Do you have good reason to believe that
the information on the site is accurate? Do
authors provide any supportive evidence for their
conclusions?
Why - Does this site address the topic you are
researching? Was the page worth visiting? Does
the site offer anything unique or does it tell
you little more than you could find in an
encyclopedia?

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Remember the Basics
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So, Is the Web a good research tool?

The answer is yes, but only if you are careful
Every time you find a new piece of information,
try to answer all the questions so that you can
make up your own mind whether it is quality
information or not.
And finally, never follow advice from the
Internet unless you are sure it is correct.

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Quiz

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Your Assignment plan a vacation to Mankato MN

After looking at all the links and information on
the site, please answer the questions at the
following web site
http//www.2learn.ca/evaluating/div3netscheck2.ht
ml
When you have answered all of the questions,
click on the show me my net check page at the
bottom of the web site.
Print out your answers and turn them in.

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Your assignment --Jo cool or Jo fool

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Form B

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Sources

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