The World Wide
Web offers us the opportunity to find information on any subject from all over
the world. This accessibility can be both good and bad. As
educators we need to be aware of the reliability and validity of the information
our students are accessing.
There are 3 major things you
need to consider when assessing a web resource:
- Authorship
- Publishing Body
- Document Information
Authorship
- Who is the Author of the piece?
- Is it clear who created the material from credits,
references?
- What is their occupation, years of experience, position
or education?
- Do you feel this person is qualified to write on the
given topic?
Publishing Body
- What institution or Internet provider created or
sponsored the information?
- Commercial (.com)
- Government (.gov)
- University (.edu)
- Organization (.org)
- Does the author's affiliation with this particular
institution appear to bias the information? In what way?
- What are the goals/purposes of the institution? Do they
make money?
Document Information
- When was the information created or last updated?
- What appears to be the purpose for this information?
- Inform (new information, current
events)
- Explain (describe a process, teach)
- Persuade (change your mind,
convince you to buy)
- Express an opinion
- Entertain
- Other
Use one of the websites that you bookmarked during
the Boolean search.
Assess the reliability of the website using the
following handout:
http://www.mediaworkshop.org/liberty/internetworkshop/assessment_handout.html