Transcript Unit 6 - Plattsburgh State Faculty and Research Web Sites

Unit 6
Evaluating Information
Can You Find the Answers

Use Google to examine the following
web sites; decide if the site is
trustworthy or questionable:
» Feline responses to bearded men
» Americans with no abilities act (onion)
» Aidsfacts
Unit 6
Evaluating Information
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Criteria
» Standards
» Quality

Applying Standards to
» Books
» Journals, Magazines
» Web Sites
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Bibliography citations
Standards for Judging
Information
Suitability
 Authority
 Documentation
 Objectivity

Suitability
Is the source relevant?
 Who is the intended audience?
 Is it an overview or in-depth?
 Timeliness – when published, is that
important?

Authority
 Who
is the author?
 What do you know about the author?
Credentials
Other writings, reputation
 If
author is an organization, what do
you know about it?
Documentation

Books
» Contains index, bibliography, footnotes,
what is length?
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Periodicals – scholarly or popular?
» Journal
– Professional audience, footnotes, 5 or more
pages, scholarly
» Magazine
– General audience, no footnotes, less than 5
pages, popular
Objectivity
Are a variety of views represented
and argued?
 Does the presentation encourage
debate, discussion?
 Are contradictory views suppressed?
 Is language emotional, inflammatory?
 Is objective to explore an issue or
convert you to the “right thinking”?

Examples
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“America the unready: homeland security
(America’s defenses or lack of them)” –
“The Economist”
“Homeland security (land of the controlled
and home of the secure)” – “The
Humanist”
“US congress approves more police-state
powers (further greases the skids toward a
police state)” – “The People”
Applying Standards to Books
Check author’s credentials, works
 Does book have bibliography, index?
 Who is publisher, publication date
 Length (more than 100 pages?)
 Is author’s approach objective or
biased?

Evaluating Journal and Magazine
Articles

Journal or magazine article?
Audience professional or popular
Length substantial or short (+ or - 5 pages)
Footnotes present or absent?
What do you know about author? Check
for information within article
 What do you know about the publication’s
point of view? Conservative, liberal, right,
left, center?

Web Sites
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Accuracy
» Information reliable or biased?
» What does URL tell (.com, .org, .gov, .edu)?
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Authority
» Is authorship clear, can author be contacted?

Content and Currency
» Purpose – inform, sell, propagandize?
» Is there a clear date, when was page updated?
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Documentation
» Are sources given or footnoted?
Parts of a Web Page
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Header
» top of Web document, page title and URL
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Title bar
» actual title of page, may use to cite
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URL or location bar
» where Web address appears, vital for citing
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Body
» where text or content will be found

Footer
» info on page author,sponsor, last update
Web Page URLs

Dot what?
» .edu – educational institution
» .com – commercial entity
» .gov – federal government
» .org – non-profit organization
» .net – network provider
– Odd mix – companies, associations, Internet
service providers –
Library and Web Sources

Items in libraries (reviewed, filtered)
» Books
– Reviewed twice: by editor and then librarians
» Journal articles
– Subject to peer review process, editorial board
» Magazine articles
– Reflect credibility of journalist and editorial board

Web documents (unreviewed, unfiltered)
» No peer review or editorial control
» Credibility depends on judgment of user
Bibliography Citations

Citing
» Gives credit to source of a quote, idea
» Verifies reliability of your information
» Describes the source used
» Located at end of paper, lists materials
consulted in alphabetical order
» Follows certain style
– MLA, CBI, Turabian, Chicago, APA
Parts of a Citation in a Record
Author
Title of Article
Oresti, David. “Intelligent Life on the Web.”
Computerworld. 32(4): 39-49. 1998 Nov. 30
issue
Title of Journal
pages
date
volume
You need to use relevant information from
the record to create a “citation”
Magazine and Journal Articles as
Citations
Magazine article from (abstract) database
Bazell, Robert and Joan Irwin. “Science and
Society.” New Republic 15 Mar. 1993: 13-14.
Journal article from (abstract) database
Oresti, David. “Intelligent Life on the Web.”
Computerworld 32.4 (1998): 39-49.
Journal article from full-text database
Oresti, David. “Intelligent Life on the Web.”
Computerworld 32.4(1998):39-49. INFOTRAC
Expanded Academic ASAP. SUNY Plattsburgh Lib.
20 Sept. 2003
<http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/plattsburgh_main/>.
Book and Web Document Citations
Book (MLA)
Beard, Henry. French for Cats. New York: Boswell,
1991.
Web document (MLA) – author, date identified
Animal Lovers Society. Cruelty to Snakes. 6 June
1998. 4 Oct. 2003 <http://www.als.org/home.htm>.
Web document (MLA) – no author, date identified
Cruelty to Snakes. 4 Oct. 2003
<http://www.als.org/home.htm>.
Homework Assignment
Evaluate books, magazine, journal
articles
 Cite book, magazine, journal article
 Evaluate Web site
 Cite Web Site
 Refer to Library Web site – Research
Help – Citing Sources
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