Evaluating Web Sources West Fargo School District
Dec 28, 2015
West Fargo Public Schools
C A R S• Credibility• Accuracy• Reasonableness• Support
• Harris, Robert. “Evaluating Internet Research Sources.” 17 November 1997. Online. Internet. 28 November 2001. Available WWW:http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
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Credibility
• Who is responsible?– Often difficult to determine
– Any qualifications?
– Usually found at beginning or end of site
– Look for name of author & contact information• Look at “About us” or “Contact us”
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Look for Author’s Credentials
• Look all over– Top, bottom, side bars, etc.
– Look for a link for an “About us,” a “Biography” section, a “Philosophy”
http://www.kathyschrock.com/
• If nothing is listed, truncate the URL
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Truncating the URL• Delete end characters of URL stopping
at the first slash (/)– Leave the slash (/)
• Example: – http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
• Check for credentials at each level
• Continue with one slash (/) at a time until you get to the domain name (if you need to)
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What organization is represented?
• Have you heard of this organization? http://147.129.1.10/library/research/AIDSFACTS.htm
– Check for a disclaimer
How do we verify credibility?– E-mail Address-- not enough!– Need Postal address or– Telephone number
• Check the home page (truncate the URL)
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Do I Stop Now?
• Yes, if site is not credible
• No, if site is credible– If credible, continue with evaluation
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Accuracy• Date?
– Warning: Undated factual or statistical information is no better than anonymous information. Don’t use it.
• Revision date?
• Errors?– Spelling
– Grammar
3 or more errors indicate a poor site
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Reasonableness• Emotionalism
• Purpose of the site– Inform, explain, persuade, promote, sell, share,
facts, disclose, rant, entice, etc.
• Bias– Is there bias in the site? Good or bad to use?
• Advertising– Do ads coincide with document?– Is the advertiser a sponsor of the site?
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Support• Information in any other place?• Look at the domain
http://www.west-fargo.k12.nd.us.k12 school.edu college and university.com commercial.net internet resource.org nonprofit organization.gov government
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Support• Who has linked to the site?
– Use a search engine such as Google or AltaVista to see who has linked to the page
– In the search box precede the URL with link: (no spaces) and press Enter
• Ex:
http://www.google.com/
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Decision time!!• Do you or do you not use the site?
NO, if you cannot verify the authors or sponsoring organization
• Then you need to carefully decide considering all of the criteria
C A R S
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That is Power!!
Few sources meet every criteria in the list, but if you use the list, you will be a better user of information.
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When to Use the Evaluation Sheets
• When evaluating pages on the Internet
• Let’s take a look at the Library Web Resources
http://www.west-fargo.k12.nd.us/schools/middle/library/
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Practice Assignment
1. Everyone logon
2. Click Library Web Resources
3. Click Search Model
4. Scroll down to Step 4
5. Choose 1 of the assignments
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Works Cited
• Harris, Robert. “Evaluating Internet Research Sources.” 17 November 2001. Online. Internet. 07 June 1999. Available WWW: http://www. Virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
• Alexander, Jan and Tate, Marsha. “Checklist for an Advocacy Web Page.” 5 August 1996. Online. Internet. 23 April 1998. Available WWW: http://www. science. widener. edu/~withers/ advoc.htm.
• Schrock, Kathy. “Critical Evaluation of a Web Site.” 1996. Online. Internet. 27 November 2001. Available WWW: http://www.kathyschrock.com/abceval/index.htm