Download Evaluating Websites


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmx
4twCK3_I
\
Can be daunting with its volumes of
resources
 Takes skill & perseverance.
 Should be done with prudence when
› selecting sites for your students to

use
› doing online research
Magnitude of resources
 Any person can create a webpage
 Search engines (Google) do not
scrutinize sites

› In fact, the top results are often the top
results because companies PAY to be there!!
Informational
 Opinion
 Point of View or Perspective
 Commercial or business
 Personal

A: Authorship/Authenticity (Verifiability)
 B: Bias or Point of View
 C: Currency/Content

Author is well-known and well- regarded
 Positive referral from another trusted
source
 Biographical information is given
 Other contact information is supplied

Explanations of research methods
provided
 Bibliography / links to supporting
documents
 Individuals/sources are identifiable
 Use other sources to cross-reference

Name or link to governing organization
 Organization is:

› Recognizable
› Suitable to topic at hand
 Identified relationship between author
and server
 Verify server where document resides

Decide where webpage resides (URL)
› Corporate site?
› Political agenda?
› Philosophical agenda?
Date of information
 Publication date
 Date of last revision
 Current, active links

Look at the material that is presented on
the page
 Are there any misspelled words?
 Does the information appear reliable
and valid?
 Can you find this information elsewhere
on the web?

.edu = Education Site
 .com = Commercial Sites - Unrestricted!
 .gov = Government Agency
 .org = Organizations – Unrestricted!
 .net = Intended for ISP’s & Networks (but
can be purchased)
 .info = Unrestricted!

.biz = Intended for Business – Unrestricted!
 .pro = Professionals/Organizations
 .k12.nj.us = Public / Private Schools
 .library.nj.us = Public Libraries
 .state.nj.us = Official State Websites
 .name = Individual, Personal Website

Web Search Strategies In Plain English
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8a
YoVpdz8o
 Hints on identifying personal pages are
available in
Understanding and Decoding URLs.
 http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/
general/evaluating/url.html


Read "Rising Tide: Sites Born of Hate",
New York Times, March 18, 1999 to learn
about tough-to-detect extremist point of
views.
 http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99
/02/circuits/articles/18hate.html
 Get students to evaluate web pages by
exploring these hoax sites!
 http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/documen
ts/TCEA/hoaxtable.html

Topic: Psychology of Parenting
 Started doing research to develop my
thesis
 Psychology Today Articles
 Parental attention, when taken to an
extreme known as helicopter parenting,
has a detrimental impact on a child’s
psychosocial development.

Follow directions for creating an account
in packet #1
 Mini-lesson:

› Creating a project
› Starting a bibliography
› Electronic Note cards
› http://www.chathamcentralschools.com/