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CRITICAL EVALUATION Why Evaluate What You Find on the Web?

CRITICAL EVALUATION Why Evaluate What You Find on the Web?. Anyone can put up a Web page about anything for pennies in minutes Many pages not kept up-to-date No quality control most sites not “peer-reviewed” less trustworthy than scholarly publications

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CRITICAL EVALUATION Why Evaluate What You Find on the Web?

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  1. CRITICAL EVALUATIONWhy Evaluate What You Find on the Web? • Anyone can put up a Web page • about anything • for pennies • in minutes • Many pages not kept up-to-date • No quality control • most sites not “peer-reviewed” • less trustworthy than scholarly publications • no selection guidelines for search engines

  2. Web Evaluation TechniquesBefore you click to retrieve the page... • Look at the URL: • personal page or site ? ~ or % orusers or members • domain name appropriate for the content ? edu, com, org, net, gov, ca.us, uk, etc. • published by an entity that makes sense ? • News from its source? www.nytimes.com • Advice from valid agency? www.nih.gov/ www.nlm.nih.gov/ www.nimh.nih.gov/

  3. Web Evaluation Techniques Scan the perimeter of the page • Can you tell who wrote it ? • name of page author • organization, institution, agency you recognize • e-mail contact by itself not enough • Credentials for the subject matter ? • Look for links to: “About us”“Philosophy”“Background” “Biography” • Is it recent or current enough ? • Look for “last updated” date - usually at bottom • Do not trust a current date in: View | Page Info (Netscape) OR File | Properties (IE) • If no links or other clues... • truncate back the URL http://hs.houstonisd.org/hspva/academic/Science/Thinkquest/gail/text/ethics.html

  4. Web Evaluation TechniquesIndicators of quality • Sources documented • links, footnotes, etc. • As detailed as you expect in print publications ? • do the links work ? • Information not retyped or forged • why not link to published version instead ? • Links to other resources • biased, slanted ?

  5. Do a link: search Google How many links ? What kinds of sites ? What do they say ? Use AllTheWeb’s URL Investigator Who links to the site? Who owns the domain? Type or paste the URL into the basic search box Did a reputable source refer you ? is the page in the LII, Infomine? Look up the page author in Google Who links to www.peacenow.org ? link:peacenow.org • Copy the URL of a page (Ctrl+C) • Go to a search engine (Google, etc.) • Type link:and paste in the URL (Ctrl+V) • No spaces before or after the : Web Evaluation TechniquesWhat Do Others Say ?

  6. Web Evaluation TechniquesSTEP BACK & ASK: Does it all add up ? • Why was the page put on the Web ? • inform with facts and data? • explain, persuade? • sell, entice? • share, disclose? • as a parody or satire? • Is it appropriate for your purpose?

  7. Try evaluating some sites... • Search a controversial topic in Google: • prions safe • nuclear armageddon • “stem cells” abortion • Scan the first two pages of results • Visit one or two sites • try to evaluate their quality and reliability Use the worksheet as a guide to techniques

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