Evaluating Web Sources:
The Good, The Bad, and The
Ugly
Jan Stenftenagel
Not all web sites are created the equally, nor does content guarantee truthfulness or factual information. Skepticism will serve you well on the World Wide Web.
Understanding and
Decoding URLs
PowerPoint Presentation: Web Resource Evaluation Techniques
http://www2.widener.edu/Wolfgram-Memorial-Library/webeval/eval1198/index.htm
Kinds of Web Pages
· Advocacy
· Business/Marketing
· News
· Informational
· Personal
Evaluating Internet
Sites
http://cii.vcsu.nodak.edu/classroom/evaluating.htm
Issues to consider:
· Accuracy
· Authority
· Objectivity
· Currency
· Coverage
Advocacy Web Pages
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Send food to the hungry every day.
Advocacy on behalf of the mentally disabled
Advocacy and information regarding learning disabilities
Business/marketing
Web Pages
Jan's bank
Jan's airline
Buy clothes here
Jan's bookstore
http://www.boulderbookstore.com/
Jan’s other bookstore
Informational Web
pages
The Environmental Protection Agency
The
This is obvious, but DO NOT be confused by www.whitehouse.net or www.whitehouse.com
The
News Web Pages
The
Independent media center—a non-corporate sponsored source for news
CNN
The OTHER news¾alternative, non-corporate sponsored sources
Personal Web Pages
Oops Wrong Planet
Jan's son's, Adam's, homepage
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/
Donald Simanek: One cool, wacky professor
Some of Jan's
Favorites
Beautiful places, informational storehouses, thought-provoking commentary
Jan's first art experience on the web
http://thirteen.org/egg/egg.html
Art series via PBS New York
The Writer's Almanac: Daily dose of literary interest
http://home.columbus.rr.com/cheztonner/butterflies.html
A lovely spot
This guy has one heck of a complaint!
So does this guy!
Discover your life expectancy, second by second!
Those Car Talk boys are fun!
Who needs a cookbook?
This site shows you all that's happening on the web.
Evaluating Internet/Research Resources
|
Indicators of Scholarship |
Indicators of Propaganda |
|
Describes limits of research or data |
Excessive claims of certainty, i.e. one "right" way of thinking |
|
Presents accurate description of alternate viewpoints |
Relies on personal attacks and ridicule. |
|
Encourages debate, discussion, and criticism. |
Emotional appeals. Use of inflammatory language |
|
Settles disputes by use of generally accepted criteria for evaluating data |
Suppresses contradictory views |
|
Looks for counter-examples |
Appeals to popular prejudices. |
|
Updates information. |
Devalues critical appraisal. |
|
Admits own ignorance. |
Transforms words and statistics to suit purpose. |
|
Relies on critical thinking skills |
Presents information and view out of context. |
Adapted from
Milner Library Evaluating Internet Resources at http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/subject/intrnt/evaluate.htm
Additional
Information on Evaluating Web Sources:
http://www.westwords.com/guffey/assess.html
Assessing the Quality of Web Documents. Collection of articles gathered by Business English text author Mary Ellen Guffey.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/circuits/articles/04trut.html
"Whales in
the
http://vuweb.vinu.edu/PageWorks/servlet/PageMill?pageid=28&tempid=0
VU’s library resources
http://www.inspire-indiana.net
A library full of magazine and journal articles for