evaluating information sources is this “good stuff” for my report?

EVALUATING INFORMATION SOURCES

Is this “good stuff” for my report?

Things to Think About

Authority Who wrote this? Are they experts? Are they reliable?

Currency Is this information up-to-date?

Things to Think About

Purpose/Bias Why was it written? To inform, entertain, persuade

Relevancy Does it have information I need?

Another Thing to Consider

Ease of Use Can I find information quickly? Can I understand the information?

Print vs. Internet Sources

Print Authority

Editors Librarians

Currency Published once reprinted

Internet Authority

Anyone

Currency Can be updated

frequently

Checking Things Out

Print Look at the TITLE

PAGE and VERSO Author Publisher

Internet Check the

HOMEPAGE Author URL (Internet

address)http://dsc.discovery.com/dinosaurs/

Updated?

Understanding URL’s

http://dsc.discovery.com/dinosaurs/ hypertext transfer protocol www Domain name Domain suffix or extension

.com .org .net .edu. . mil .gov .bz Personal pages

Members, ~, geocities, aol, k-12

/ Folders Wiki

Look at the URL

• Someone’s PERSONAL PAGE? a name after a ~%UsersISP—aol, Verizon, OptimumWeb hosting provider geocities, wetpaint,

weebly or aol.com

Keep looking at the URL

• Type of DOMAIN Extensions .gov and . mil. edu. org .com .net

Look some more

• Country codes .us .ca .au .uk .de

Looking at some Internet Sources http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/

dino/index.jsp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur http://www.geocities.com/dinowight/ http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/d

inosaur.html http://www.galaxy.net/~k12/dinos/refer.s

html http://www.dinosaurs.bz/

Look even closer

• For the author• Expert or hobbyist?• Credentials given?

• For the publisher or domain• Finding it

• Between http://and 1st / http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/

Internet/Evaluate.html

Continue Checking Things Out

Print Ease of use

Availability Purpose? Bias?

Are different ideas discussed?

Internet Ease of use

Can I navigate easily?

How fast is the connection?

Do the links work? Purpose? Bias?

Are there a lot of adswww.unmuseum.org/dinosaf.htm Are different ideas

discussed?

www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/matisse

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pcez/hd_pcez.htm

http://www.asds.org/AH2002/julie/Cezanne.htm

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus

/

http://www.asds.org/AH2002/julie/Cezanne.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pcez/hd_pcez.htm

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Use sources that are reliable, up-to-date, easy to use, and fair.

Make good choices . . .

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