Evaluating Websites: Spoof, Spam, and Spite

Marsha Lustigman, M.A., M.L.SLibrarian, Bialik High School, MontrealMarch 17, 2009

Teaching Information Literacy

Media literacy(curriculum reform) To ‘google’ or not to ‘google’ Using the internet as the world’s

library: pros and cons Proliferation of opinion as fact on

Web2.0

Spoof & Spam on the Web:‘Just because it’s out there, doesn’t mean it’s good!’

Social Studies: Create a Travel Brochure Mankato, MN

Media: New York Times

Technology: The Search Engine How does Google work?

Hoax and Hate on the Web

Martin Luther King

The White House

Institute for Historical Review

Evaluation Criteria for Websites

Authority

Accuracy

Currency

Content

Evaluation Criteria: Authority

Who wrote it? .com, .edu, .org., gov? Professional publisher? Commercial vendor? Amateur or individual author? Educational organization? NGO?

Evaluation Criteria: Accuracy

Have you compared this information with other websites on the same topic?

Are there links to other sources? Is there a bibliography of print or

other media sources? Verify! Verify! Verify!

Evaluation Criteria: Currency

Is the information up-to-date?

How do you find out?

Medical & scientific information

Historical information

Evaluation Criteria: Content

Is the text well-written or are there spelling and grammatical errors?

Is the text too academic or difficult to understand or is the text too simple?

Are there many pictures or photos on the topic versus text?

Is the layout designed by a professional or academic organization versus an amateur or commercial organization?

Just because it’s on the Internet does not mean its for real!

Real Mankato Mn. website:http://www.ci.mankato.mn.us/ Fake Mankato Mn. website:http://descy.50megs.com/mankato/

mankato.html

Evaluation Forms to LEARN about critical thinking

The Research Path: 7 steps to success (Bialik Library Guide)

Information Skills for Lifelong Learning – the MELS reform (Quebec, CA)

The Research Path: 7 steps to success

..\Desktop\researchpath.pdf

How to Evaluate an Internet Site: Guides for Educators

Bialik Library Internet Guide

Internet Public Library: A + Writing & Research Guide

All About Explorers

Using Evaluation Forms to Teach Critical Thinking

Schrock Evaluation Guide for High School Students

Berkeley Library Guide

How to Evaluate Websites: Recommended Guides for Students

and Educators

Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/div/teen/aplus/infosearch.htm

Berkeley Library Evaluation Formhttp://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/EvalForm.pdf

Bialik Library Evaluation Informationhttp://www.jppsbialik.ca/en/bialik/leo-roskies-libraryKathy Schrock’s Guides

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/eval.html

November Learning www.novemberlearning.com/resources/information-

literacy-resources