1. Web Site Information Evaluation Brooke Carey Ahrens English Essays Feb.2009

2. Why do we need to evaluate? The web has no monitors. Anyone is allow to post anything and NO ONE is double- checking those facts Some of the information you encounter might not be accurate or even true! Check out this website: www.whitehouse.org

3. Why else should we evaluate? Different people publish website for different purposes: –Retail- www.Nordstroms.comwww.Nordstroms.com –Recreational- www.eonline.comwww.eonline.com –Advocacy- www.americanheart.orgwww.americanheart.org –Scholarly- www.eric.ed.govwww.eric.ed.gov –Propaganda- www.barackobama.comwww.barackobama.com

4. Evaluation is the key! Depending on what you are looking for, a website may OR may not fit your needs You have to look carefully at the website, the author, the information and more to see if the information is accurate and reliable!

5. 1 st step- Evaluate the author You need to determine if the author is credible. Look for the following: 1.Can you locate the author’s name? 2.Does the author provide contact information? 3.What are the author’s credentials? What makes them qualified to write on this topic? 4.Does the author cite his sources?

6. What about this website? Mark Twain- American Author and HumoristMark Twain- American Author and Humorist Let’s see if we can determine who the author is, if we can contact them, if they qualified to provide information and where their information came from…

7. 2 nd step- Evaluate the website We now need to determine if the website is reliable. Think back to the types of websites that are published (retail, advocacy, etc). What is the purpose of the website you are using? Does that purpose fit your purpose? Can you find this information somewhere else? If not, that might be a problem.

8. What about this website? Apollo Hoax? What is the purpose of this site? Does the site present a bias or facts? Can we verify the information elsewhere? Do we see spelling errors/broken links/grammar errors?

9. Web Addresses- Another clue The URL (web address) can provide you with some clues…..gov means this is a US government site.edu means this is college or university site.org means it is a non-profit site.com means it is a for profit site ~ in the address means you need to check the authorship

10. 3 rd step- Evaluate the date It is important to see when your website was last updated. When the article was written. Some topics (like technology) required frequent updating. If the information is old, things may have changed since the site was published

11. What about this website? Taking a Polaroid Picture Is it current? Is it relevant? Will it support your research?

12. You need to try it now… Separation of Church and State- 2 views… 1.Jeremiah ProjectJeremiah Project 2.Anti-Defamation LeagueAnti-Defamation League

13. What did you discover??? Was the first site one that you would use? Why or why not? What about the 2 nd site? What did you find?

14. A word about BibMe! One of my favorite sites- www.bibme.com Gather data as you go. It is easier to remove citations later….