1. **cite = use in research
Jot down your thoughts in response to the question below:
How do you know if a site is good enough to cite?
**cite = use in research
Walk about and take note of students’ responses as a pre-assessment

2. Quit Posting Lies!!!

3. Step 1: Finding a site How do search engines like Google work?
What do they look for?
How are the results ranked?
What words should you put in the search box?
What happens when you put quotes around the words?
What happens when you put a hyphen before a word?

4. Step 2: Determining whether the site is usable http://lib. colostate
Think about …
_________ created this website?
_________ is the content of the site?
_________ is the information from?
_________ was the site last updated?
_________ is this website online?
Show video tutorial

5. Who: Think about their _____________ level, their ____________ position, and their general trustworthiness
What: are they trying to get you with an __________, is it a ______ item, does it look like a 6th grader’s project or is it what you need?
Where: Is it _________, governmental, or educational?
When: Is this ______ info or new info?
Why: to promote a personal or political _________, to get you to ________ something, or to entertain?

6. Who? credentials? education? experience? affiliation?
Does the author’s experience really qualify him or her as an expert?
Does he or she offer first-hand credibility? (For instance, a Vietnam veteran or a witness to Woodstock?)
Who actually published this page?
Is this a personal page or is it an endorsed part of a site belonging to a major institution? (Clues pointing to a personal page: ~ tilde, %, users, members)

7. But what if I can’t
find any
author information?

8. Look for credibility clues!
Words and phrases to look for:
About us
Who Am I
FAQs
Company Information
Our Staff
This info is usually found on the HOME page
Clues often appear on the top or bottom of a page, or in menu bars and frames. These sections often contain authorship clues! 8

9. No HOME page link? Truncate the URL
Delete characters in the address line up to the next slash mark to see if a main page offers more information about who is responsible for publishing the page you are interested in.
Go from:

10. Still more credibility clues
If you have an author’s name but no further
information about credentials,
Search the name in quotation marks in a search engine or online database
On the Web, include words like profile, resume, or C.V. (curriculum vitae—an academic resume) to narrow your name search
the author (If you have no information other than an link, write a polite asking for more information.)

11. What?
Can facts, statistics, or other information be verified through other sources?
Based on your knowledge, does the information seem accurate? Is the information inconsistent with information you learned from other sources?
Is the information second hand? Has it been altered?
Do there appear to be errors on the page (spelling, grammar, facts)?

12. When? When was this information created? When was it last revised?
Are these dates meaningful in terms of your information needs?
Has the author of the page stopped maintaining it?
(Be suspicious of undated material.)

13. Where? Did the author bother to document his or her sources?
Were those references reliable and scholarly?
Are those sources real? Have you or your librarian heard of or been able to verify them?

14. URLs as clues to content
.com=commercial sites (vary in their credibility)
.gov=U.S. government site
.org=organization, often non-profit. *Some have strong bias and agendas
.edu=school or university site
*is it K–12? by a student or a teacher?
.ac=educational institution (like .edu)
.mil=U.S. military site
~=personal site

15. What do their URLs reveal about these sites?
These are not working URLS! Use them as examples for analysis only. 15

16. Recognizing bias is important.
Why?
Does the source present a particular view or bias?
Is the page selling a product?
Was the information found in a paid placement or sponsored result from the search engine?
Information is seldom neutral.
Recognizing bias is important.

17. What about Wikipedia? Who can edit and create articles?
Who can edit and create articles?
In order for articles to remain, they must
Cite _____________
Present material _______ and without ________
But who checks up on the articles?