Research and web evaluation

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D. Price-Ewen2012/13

Image: World's Biggest Dog

2Real!

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Real!

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Fake!

G.W. Bush and dad out fishing during Hurricane Katrina

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Real!

Black & White Twins

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Real!

Illegal Alien Hides in Dashboard

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Fake!

Black & White Twins

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Fake!

North Pole Sunset

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The ability to find relevant and accurate information efficiently

Does the question your teacher asks you in your assignment, contain any instructional verbs?

E.g. list the 5 ingredients in apple pie

Analyse Contrast Criticise

Define Describe Discuss Enumerate

Explain Interpret Justify List Outline

Prove Relate Resolve Review

State Trace

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Try and use as many different “content rich”

resources as possible, so that information can be compared and

contrasted to ensure accuracy.

>3 different resources = better information reliability

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WARNING Know this: the Internet is full of bogus web-sites, inaccuracies, misinformation,

disinformation, poor grammar and spelling, shoddy ideas, scope-less and out of date content.

The Internet is a swampy croc-fest of bad information ready to reach up and bite you where it hurts – your marks.

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Google Is there anything wrong with Google?? What is a meta-search engine?Have you heard of the meta-search engine? One of the best is… DogpileEscape the Google bubble by using: Duck Duck Go!

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beyond .com, .net and .org… network = .net company = .com organisations = .org multimedia = .tv business cooperatives = .coop museum = .museum information = .info Education = .edu personal use = .name professionals = .pro air transport = .aero web sites = .ws

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+ Google power searching tip: try searching images by colour!

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What the???

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In summary:

- Reference first for keywords

- Then go to the primary and/or secondary resources (scope a library and the Internet to see what’s available)

- Evaluate your resources (Accuracy, Authority, Coverage, Currency, Presentation, Objectivity)

- Use your search engine’s advanced searching

- Check websites, in particular, for authority (authorship), accuracy and currency

AND

- …compare it ALWAYS with other sources

- When in doubt or you’ve run out of time – see your Librarian!

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Accuracy – compare resources to gauge accuracy: check dates, figures, facts, spelling, grammar…compare one resource with another.

Authority – who wrote/hosted/sponsored the article, book, Internet site, etc….Are these authors credible and objective or are they biased, with an agenda (see Objectivity)?

Coverage – how well covered is the topic. On the Internet, some topics are only superficially covered.

Currency (not money) – how old/recent is the article/book, etc. Information is constantly changing: new facts are discovered all the time, ensure you have the most up-to-date information.

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Ease of Use/Presentation – students need resources that match or just slightly challenge their comprehension levels. Resources come in all shapes and sizes, density and complexity. Encourage students to use the five finger rule: if they can point to more than 5 words on a page or site that they don’t understand the resource is too hard for them. Encourage the use of a dictionary for 5 words or less.

Objectivity – bias and subjectivity are the enemy of good research. Avoid bias by checking the domain ext. of the Internet site you are using and by checking the authority of the author of the resource.

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