Web Site Evaluation Your Guide to QUALITY Sources

Web Site Evaluation Your Guide to QUALITY Sources!

Determining Criteria – PAC - bccr • Purpose – why? • Author - who? • Content: - what? – Bias – Coverage – Currency – Recognition

Purpose: sell? inform? persuade? Things to look at: • About this site • About us • Site index • Site map Project. Vote. Smart example

Determine the Purpose of these Web Sites (fill in your worksheet) Bookspot and Princeton Review at

Author: person or organization responsible for content Things to ask: • Is organization reputable? • Does author have appropriate education, training, and/or experience?

Author: person or organization responsible for content Things to look at: • C – copyright symbol • ~ - in url for name • Site documents, linked biographies, resumes Ex: Handbook of Texas Online Ex: Focus on the Death Penalty

Determine the Author of these Web Sites (fill in your worksheet) Eye on DNA and Victorian Web at

Content: what type of information is it? Bias: an unfair preference for; prejudice toward; favoritism; Coverage: how well it covers the topic & do other sites cover other aspects of this topic? Currency: When was the material written? Has information been added recently? Are links functional or broken? Recognition: Do others recognize the value of its contents?

Content: Bias For controversial topics: Balanced (both points of view)? or Biased (one-sided) Are the claims: Supported? w/documentation/evidence or Unproven? No evidence/documentation

Content: Bias Look for: • References to alternative points of view. • Strongly worded assertions, which should be supported by evidence and documentation. Ex: Nat’l Pork Producers Council Ex: Public Agenda for Citizens

Determine whether these websites are: Biased? or Balanced? Supported? or Unproven? (fill in your worksheet) Angel on Death Row and Death Penalty Focus at

Content Coverage: how well it covers your topic & do other sites cover this topic Look for: • Other sites on the same topic that you can quickly browse and compare to your • This is also a good way to evaluate controversial claims.

Content Coverage: how well it covers your topic & do other sites cover this topic How to Locate Similar Sites: • You can locate similar sites easily using Google • In the search box, type: related: [URL of known site] Example: related: www. deathpenalty. org (fill in your worksheet—related sites? )

Content Currency: When was the material written? Has information been added recently? Are links functional or broken? Things to look for: • Page creation or revision dates. • "What's New" page that describes when content was updated. • Press releases or other dated materials. IPL. org ( fill in your worksheet)

Content Recognition: Do others recognize the value of its contents Things to look for: • Links from other sites- Google – link: [URL of site] Use - link: www. deathpenalty. org • Tags for this site – del. icio. us—look how many bookmarks (fill in worksheet for these two)

Content Recognition: Do others recognize the value of its contents Things to look for: • Reader’s comments – Technorati — blogger’s name or name of blog# of blogs linking to website • Citations of articles by other researchers: example using Google. —type in title of article …Google Scholar – look for. . Cited by… (fill in worksheet)

Content Recognition: Do others recognize the value of its contents Things to look for: • How many sites are linked to these sites? Using Google Advanced Search see how many sites are linked to these sites? ipl 2 – www. ipl. org Go Ask Alice – www. goaskalice. columbia. edu (fill out worksheet)

May the PAC be with you!

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