Evaluating Credibility of Sources Lesson 7 Credible Sources

Evaluating Credibility of Sources Lesson 7

Credible Sources • • Just because Google puts a result first does not necessarily give it any credibility. Think of it more as a popularity measure where Google has done a lot of work to try to remove the content that might be spurious or off topic. So, the top pages will match closely with your query topic, but that's not exactly the same as credibility.

Credible Sources • Certain terms carry a lot of political and semantic freight with them. If, for example, you do a search for something like [obamacare], it implies a set of perspectives on that topic.

Credible Sources

Use Your Instincts • • • Does this information seem unbelievable? Does it make sense to you or others? Does what you read conflict with something you already know to be true? Does the writing seem like it is grossly exaggerated? Is there a way to check this information out so you know whether it is true or not? COMPARE MULTIPLE SOURCES!!!!

Identify Credible Sources • • • Does the writing seem too good to be true? Who wrote this information When was the article written? Can the information be verified? How might the tone or style of the writing reflect its credibility? Why does the author write this information?

Identify Credible Sources There are other methods that are useful in checking credibility: 1. Reading the web address 2. Time range

Identify Credible Sources Reading the web address Consider this fictional web address: http: //www. historywebsite. com/imperialism/panamacanal. html Within this address there is a directory called imperialism, pointing to a document called panamacanal. html. This address is telling you something about the philosophical leanings of the site. You know that this particular document about the Panama Canal, which may have a generic title, such as "The History of Panama, " is actually coming from a particular perspective that is signaled by the use of the word “imperialism” in the address.

Identify Credible Sources Time Range Another technique you can use to check and validate results is checking the time range of a document. For example, not long ago, this quote got a great bit of play on the Internet because it was attributed to Martin Luther King: “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. ” --attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Did Dr. King really say this?

Identify Credible Sources Let's start by searching for the quote: [ "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives” ]. Then let's restrict the time by using 1/1999 as an ending date.

Identify Credible Sources One of the challenges about doing web searches is that there is so much data out there. One of the problems with so much data out there is that you will often get variant data; that is, different versions of the same piece of information. Even a simple fact might have some more subtlety involved in it. For example, compare the results for the [circumference of the earth].

Identify Credible Sources As you can see we get variant results. This is because the circumference of the earth varies depending on whether you measure around the equator or around the poles. If you are not aware of that, you might believe that the earth is a perfect sphere and that a single number is a perfect description of its circumference. In reality, it’s very close to a perfect sphere, but there is variation.

Identify Credible Sources Quotes are typically very hard to verify; it is difficult to determine who they originally came from, and how they evolved over time. Often, quotes are attributed to people that didn't really say them, or repeated incorrectly. The phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson, " is often thought to have been said by Sherlock Holmes somewhere in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Identify Credible Sources You can use books feature to figure out what's going on. • Search for [Sherlock Holmes complete] in Books. • Use the search box on the left to search for ["elementary my dear watson"]

Identify Credible Sources Just as you can get information about a site by looking through pages on the site itself, sometimes you need to find out information about the site as a whole. There are many techniques for doing this, but one to know about is called "WHOIS. "

Identify Credible Sources WHOIS is a large database of information about websites. It's held by the people who run the networks, and it allows you to get information about websites. Many providers give access to the information in WHOIS. Search for [whois] and choose whichever one you like—the amount of information may vary, so it makes sense to check out a few and pick one. Try Internic or Whois. sc and search zagat. com

Identify Credible Sources Check the assignments page for a link to the worksheet checking your understanding of how determine the credibility of sources.

Source for Presentation • • Google Search Education http: //www. google. com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons. html