Transcript Credible Websites

CREDIBLE WEBSITES
Library Skills 2011
DATABASES VS. WEBSITES
Experts are the writers
Anyone can be the writer
Aimed at students and
researchers
Aimed at the general public
Structure is consistent
Structure varies
Paid with passwords
Free on the web
Searched internally
Searched with search engines
Quality information because
it is checked for accuracy
Get information more quickly
but quality may be inferior
Articles tend to be more
detailed
Length, amount of detail will
vary
DATABASES VS. WEBSITES
The best tool to use for research depends on your
topic.
 It is often helpful to use both databases and
websites to find a wide variety of information.
 However, when using websites, the
student/researcher must be carefully to check
that the website is credible.
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WHICH ONE IS CREDIBLE?
20th Century History
 World War I Document Archive
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Why? What characteristics are missing from the
less credible website? Write 3-4 characteristics
on the back of your Website Evaluation Notes.
WHAT FEATURES SHOULD I LOOK FOR?
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author
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sources
URL/domain name
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purpose
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age
look and feel
type of site
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bias
UNDERSTANDING THE FEATURES
OF A CREDIBLE WEBSITE
4 minutes: Work with a partner and discuss each
of the 8 factors (30 seconds per factor). Why and
how are these important?
 Click through the PPT for assistance if needed.
 Take notes as you discuss the factors with your
partner.
 Be prepared to discuss your results with the
class.
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AUTHOR
Biographies of Military and Political Leaders of
World War I
 BBC—History: World War I
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Why should a credible website have an author?
 Can the author be an institution, organization, or
company?
 What should one do once the
author’s/organization’s name is located?
 What should you do if no author/organization can
be found?
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SOURCES
Woodrow Wilson
 Woodrow Wilson: Nobel Prize
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What are sources and why are they important?
 What should one look for when analyzing the
sources used to create a website?
 Wikipedia is not a credible source but it does
have one benefit. It will list sources that can lead
to further information. As always, you should
evaluate these sources carefully to determine if
they are credible.
 Woodrow Wilson--Wikipedia
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URL/DOMAIN NAME
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What are some common URL (uniform resource
locator) extensions?
.com
.org
.net
.edu
.gov
.biz
What can these extensions tell the researcher?
 Are certain extensions naturally more reliable
than others?
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LOOK AND FEEL
World War I—Spartacus Educational
 League of Nations Photo Archive
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Why are look and feel important?
 What can they immediately tell the researcher?
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TYPE OF SITE

What types of websites exist?
Informational sites
Government sites
Educational sites
Wikis
Blogs
Social networking sites
Discussion boards/forums
Gaming sites
and more…

Which would contain the most reliable
information for research? Why?
PURPOSE
What are some purposes that websites have?
 How can one determine the purpose of a site?
 Why would this information be useful to the
researcher?
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AGE
World War I: Fordham University
 History of War Online
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Where should the researcher look to determine the
age of a site?
Is it important for all links to be current as well?
Why is correct grammar and spelling important?
What should be done if the information on a site is
not current?
Are there exceptions to this rule? When?
BIAS
What is bias?
 Where is bias present?
 How can the researcher determine if a website
has biased information?
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•Look at the advertisements
•Check the credentials of the
author/organization
•Look for blatant lies and
misrepresentation of facts
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Should biased information ever be used in
scholarly research?
WORKS CITED
Your works cited page should be in correct MLA
format.
 When using the databases (Gale, TAL, World
Book, Britannica, use the citation tools to find
the correct citations).
 See the MTSU Writing Lab for more information
about how to create your works cited page.
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WORKS CITED: WEB SITES
Author’s name. Name of Web site. Name of
institution or organization associated with the
site. Date of posting/revision. Publication
medium. Date of access.
Irvine, Martin, and Deborah Everhart. The
Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies.
Georgetown University. 2002. Web. 21 June
2004.
WORKS CITED: ARTICLE ON A WEB
SITE
Author’s name. “Title of Article.” Name of Web site.
Name of institution or organization associated
with the site. Date of posting/revision.
Publication Medium. Date of access.
Stanley, Sally. “Sabotaging a Child’s Education:
How Parents Undermine Teachers.” TeacherParent Connections. Disney Learning. 2003. Web.
22 Apr. 2003.
WORKS CITED: ONLINE ARTICLE
WITH NO OBVIOUS AUTHOR
“Title of Article.” Name of Web site. Name of
institution or publication. Date of
posting/revision. Publication medium. Date of
access.
“Reebok International Ltd.” Hoover’s Online.
Hoover’s Inc. 2002. Web. 19 June 2002.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST…
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Remember that it is illegal to steal someone else’s work.
That means you cannot copy word for word from a website
and paste it into your brochure!!!!
Also, you cannot use copyrighted images without
permission. This is also illegal. Please use TEL, Britannica
or Worldbook online to find images.
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Tips to help:
Select the most relevant info from several webpages and
summarize it in your own words.
Don’t copy a passage and use a thesaurus to change a word
here and there (it’s still illegal).
Don’t copy and paste directly from the page into your
project.
Give credit to your source by using MLA or writing down
the website URL and author/creator of the information
WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
Follow the link to complete a short survey on
what you learned from this lesson on credible
websites.
 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z36C6ML
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TOOLS TO HELP YOU
This is a great website evaluation wizard…it
takes you right through the process:
http://21cif.com/tools/evaluate/
 Evaluation checklist worksheet
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