The most important skills in evaluating information are doing a close reading and thinking about what we see, based on a set of criteria. It is easy to be impressed by a seemingly well executed Web site, without thinking about the author's credentials or whether or not the facts are supported by evidence. We sometines end up on a page from a Web site without knowing the type of site on which the material resices.  If you can develop skills in decoding the URL of of a Web page, you can also gain some valuable clues about the reliability of the information. 

Only rarely can you look at a Website/text and decide its reliability.  You need to read what the author or organizations says, investigate the writing and publishing history of the text, and then analyze carefully all the information you have collected.

Work with a partner, but each of you keep your own separate notes.  You will turn in your individual notes to get credit for this exercise.  

1) Without opening any of the following URLs, write down on a separate sheet of paper what you learn about each from the URL alone. 

a) Work through the example below first.

http://kuphsx2.phsx.ukans.edu/~shawk/astr101/astr101.html

First, we see three letters familiar from the George Mason Home Page, edu. This suggests that this site is the same kind of site as George Mason's  - a university site. "gmu" is an abbreviation for our university. What might be the name of the university in this address?

The letters after final backslash also look familiar from a university context. To what might astr191.html refer?

b) Now do the same for the following addresses. DON'T OPEN THEM, JUST EVALUATE WHAT YOU SEE TYPED HERE:

http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2001-05/alask.html
http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecn
http://www.currents.net/magnation/1603/covr1603.html 
http:// http://www.auaf.mil/
http://www.ciril.fr 
http://www.fas.org/irpworld/serbia
 

2) Imagine you are being asked to research and publish on a Web site credible information about the human genome project.

a) For each of the following four sites, write down the name of the author, the publishing organization (if available), the point of view or potential bias of each site (What material is on the site? What material that you might need to reach a reasoned judgment is not on the site?) and the currency of the information.  You should open, read and critique carefully each web site.

http://www.fplc.edu/risk/vol5/spring/cookdeeg.htm
http://thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/articles/other/genome_4/index.shtml
http://library.thinkquest.org/19037/genome.html
http://www.genome.gov/page.cfm?pageID=10001694
 

b) Using the criteria in the list for the evaluating of web sites, work out which of the above four sites would be most credible as a source for your work?  Give at least three reasons (based on the criteria, below in  Part 3) for evaluating resources) and support each with evidence drawn from your investigation of the web site.

c) Which source would be the least credible as a source for a college essay or a scholarly Web site on the human genome project?  Give at least three reasons and support each with evidence drawn from your investigation of the web site.

3. Which source would be the MOST credible as a source for a college essay or a scholarly Web site on the human genome project? Write at least one paragraph covering the criteria below to explain your rationale for the site you found to be most credible.  Remember to include evidence from the web site to support the conclusions you draw about the site’s quality in each paragraph.

• Who is the author or producer of the information?  Is that person an authority on the subject covered?  (Does s/he include a list of qualifications or publications on the subject?  Does s/he provide a bio?)  Does s/he include contact information?

• If the web site is produced by an organization, or posted on the web site of an organization, what is the purpose of that organization?  (To sell cars, to promote a particular political party, to advocate an agenda related to a global or social problem, to make money from the advertising it can sell on its site?)  What is the reputation of that organization? 

• What points-of-view or biases might you expect to encounter from the author and/or from the organization?  How complete and accurate is the information provided?  Does the site balance information that supports its claims with information that challenges its claims?

• Are sources of information (bibliography, footnotes, surveys, credits) given to support the statements that the author makes?

• When was the information produced?   Is it still up-to-date?  (Watch out for sites that are written/posted recently but rely on out-of-date information to support their claims)

• Where do the links on the web site take you?  How reliable and up-to-date is the information to which you are linked?  How relevant are the links? (For example, do you find yourself going from scholarly writing to shopping in a single link?) When you follow a link, does the site indicate why you should follow it, or do you just have to work that out for yourself?  How well-organized are the links on your chosen site (by subject, by relevance, etc.?) 

• What is the visual message of the site?  To what extent are the graphics relevant and informative?  What impressions do the background colors, choices and colors of fonts and layout (margins, balance of white space, text and graphics) convey to the reader/viewer?  If the site carries advertising, what might the presence of those ads tell you about the information (or its author or the publishing organization) on your site

• Would other sources of information (print books and journals, articles stored in electronic databases cover the subject more thoroughly or reliably? Whenever you are doing research don't asume that the most reliable material will be on the Web.