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How to judge a website by its cover

How to judge a website by its cover. Prepared for you by Miss Hosier. How can you tell if a website is good?. You should be checking 5 things to determine if a website will be valuable to your research: Accuracy Authority Objectivity Currency Coverage. Accuracy. On a Bad Page:

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How to judge a website by its cover

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  1. How to judge a website by its cover Prepared for you by Miss Hosier

  2. How can you tell if a website is good? • You should be checking 5 things to determine if a website will be valuable to your research: • Accuracy • Authority • Objectivity • Currency • Coverage

  3. Accuracy • On a Bad Page: • You can’t figure out who wrote it. • The document was produced to inflame or incite. • The person writing the document does not have authority in the field. • If there is an author, there is no way to contact them. On a Good Page: • You can find the author (A webmaster is not an author, unless otherwise stated.) • The document was written for informational purposes. • The author is qualified to write about the topic. • There is a way to contact the author.

  4. Authority • On a Good Page: • The author is separate from the webmaster. • The institution that published the page is reputable. • There are credentials listed for the author(s). • The domain of the site is credible and from a country that has authority over the matter. • On a Bad Page: • The webmaster is the only name listed, if any are listed at all. • The institution that published the page is not reputable. • If there is an author at all, no credentials are listed. • The page is published by an institution who has no authority in the matter being discussed.

  5. Objectivity • On a Good Page: • The site doesn’t provide a slanted view or opinion. • The information is very detailed. • If there are opinions expressed, they are expressed in such a way as to not be inflammatory. • The site is not a mask for advertising. • Other people and organizations who link to the site are respectable. • On a Bad Page: • The site has a slanted point of view or opinion. • The information is scarce. • Opinions are expressed in an inflammatory way. • The site is a mask for advertising. • The organizations that link to the website are not reputable.

  6. Currency • On a Good Page: • It was produced recently. • It was updated recently. • The links are current. • There are few or no dead links. • The information on the page is up to date. • On a Bad Page: • The page was not produced recently. • The page was not updated recently. • The links are not current. • Many links are dead. • The information on the page is outdated.

  7. Coverage • On a Good Page: • The links make sense on the page. • There is a balance between the text and the images. • The information presented is properly cited. • The page does not require special software to get to the information. • You don’t have to pay for the information. • There are options to view the page as text only or without frames if hard to read. • On a Bad Page: • The links do not match the content of the page. • There are more images than text. • The information is not cited. • The page requires special software to view. • You have to pay for the information. • You can only view the page as it is presented to you, even if that makes it hard to read.

  8. Putting it all together • Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the page and provides a way of contacting him/her and . . . • Authority. If your page lists the author credentials and its domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, or .k12), and. . . • Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising and it is objective in presenting the information, and . . . • Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . . • Coverage. If you can view the information properly--not limited to fees, browser technology, or software requirement, then . . . You may have a web page that could be of value to your research!

  9. So now that you know what to look for, how do you find it?

  10. Look at the domain : The domain name is what comes after http://www Look at the extension: A good extension is .k12, .edu or .gov. Find a complete list of extensions at http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/noframes/nf.domains.html Find the publisher http://www.easywhois.com/ http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp Who links to the page? Go to www.altavista.com and do a link search by typing link:http://www.domain.com make sure there are not spaces after the colon. Want to see the history? http://www.archive.org/index.php … how do you find it?

  11. What else should I check?? Are you on a personal page? • You may or may not recognize the domain name or extension of a URL. Keep reading past the first forward slash / for more clues. If you are on a personal page the information you are reading may or may not be trustworthy. • A personal page is a web site created by an individual. The web site may contain useful information, links to important resources and helpful facts, but sometimes these pages offer highly biased opinions. • The presence of a name in the URL such as jdoe and a tilde ~ or % or the word users or people or members frequently means you are on a personal web site. • Even if a site has the extension, .edu, you still need to keep a look out for personal pages.

  12. Recap: What are you looking for? • Author: Should be clear on the page you are looking at, may be found on the contact us page. • Name of Web Page: In the blue bar at the upper left hand corner of the web browser. • Date of Posting/Revision: Most recent date located on the website. You might also find it at http://www.archive.org/index.php. • Name of Institution/Organization: Should be listed on the website home page. • Date you Accessed the Site: The most recent date you have looked at the web site. • URL: Found in the address bar.

  13. How do you cite a website? MLA Style Web Page ________ _________. __________________________________________________. _____________. Author(s) Last, First. Name of Web Page, underlined. Date of Posting/ Revision. _________________________________________. _______________________ Name of institution/organization affiliated (if any). Date You Accessed the Site <http://_______________________________________________>. <electronic address or URL>. WOW! That’s all of the information you’ve already found!

  14. Some other sites to consider • http://www.thedogisland.com/ • http://www.dhmo.org/ • http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html • http://www.allaboutexplorers.com/ • http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ • http://www.peepresearch.org/ • http://www.millikin.edu/staley/peeps/

  15. Example websites • http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/Fact.aspx?fid=11&yr=1940 • http://archer2000.tripod.com/1940.html • http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/ • http://www.salemwitchtrials.org/

  16. Blackboard Username: FLast Password: password

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