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Evaluating Websites Using the 5 W’s. What is the Internet?. The internet is a vast source of information from around the WORLD . REMEMBER : You can’t always find EVERYTHING. Anyone can publish information on the internet. NOT EVERYTHING is useful. WEB ADDRESSES. Look at the web address
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What is the Internet? • The internet is a vast source of information from around the WORLD. • REMEMBER: You can’t always find EVERYTHING. • Anyone can publish information on the internet. NOT EVERYTHING is useful.
WEB ADDRESSES Look at the web address (URL) to get more information. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/media_literacy/ DOMAIN NAME: This contains the name of the person, company or organization hosting the website. For this example: you are on media-awareness. The .ca indicates the site is hosted by a Canadian institution. DIRECTORIES: This shows the directories and sub-directories leading to the page you are on. For this example: the /eng signifies the English section.
Evaluating Websites • When reading a newspaper article, you were taught to look at the 5 W’s. This same method will work for evaluating a website. • The 5 W’s (and 1 H) • Who • What • When • Where • Why • How
WHO • Who is the source of the information? • Who wrote the pages? • Is he/she qualified? • Is there a biography on the author? • How can you find out more information about the author? • BEWARE of websites that that don’t let you know who has written them. Search for the author and conduct a quick background check to get more information on him/her.
WHAT • What does the author say is the purpose of this site? • What is the viewpoint? • Does it seem biased? • Does it offer more than one viewpoint? • What is the website trying to do? • Ex: give facts, or trying to sell you something. • What makes the website easy to use?
WHEN • When was the website made? • When was the website last updated ? • Evaluate if the date effects your research on this topic. • Are the links still working? • CONSIDER - If all the links are out of date, much of the information may be out of date also.
WHERE • Where does the information come from? • Did they do their own research? • Did they read newspapers, magazines, or books? • Do they provide a bibliography? • Where can you look to find more information about the producer/sponsor? • BEWARE of authors that do not tell you where they got their information from?
WHY • WHY is this information useful to you? • Does it answer your questions? • Does it help you with your assignment/report? • WHY should you use this information? • WHY is this website better than another? The best information in the world is not useful if it doesn’t answer the questions thatYOUhave. - sfpl.org
HOW can you tell what’s what? • When in doubt, doubt. Trust your instinct. • Double check your facts and sources – and then check again.
CLASS ACTIVITY • We will visit the following website to view an article on the holocaust. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/wasthere.htm Read the handout with the article from the website • We will use the evaluation form and fill it out as a class. • We will do a “background check” on the author to get more information.
ACTIVITY • Find your partner. • Research 2 websites dealing with information on the topic you have chosen for your SS report. • For each website, complete an evaluation form. • Hand them in when they are completed.