1	Can You Believe It? Evaluating Information From Web Sources
2	Different Kinds of Web Pages Web users should be aware of the various kinds of pages that exist, as well as how and why each kind of page might be used.
3	Informational Web Page A page that supposedly presents factual information If the material is not factual, it may be “research” or test results, but it should be labeled as a report or presentation of research
4	There Is Virtually No Control About Information That Is Put on the Web Threats against individuals have been posted Obscene and/or pornographic materials are actually quite common on the web Sites that post inaccurate and/or biased material can easily be found
5	Know About Domain Names We are most familiar with the traditional domains .com commercial .net network .edu education (higher ed) .org organization (not for profit) .gov government .mil military .k12 school (district) followed by location (k12.oh.us) .int international organization
6	New Domain Names But many new domain names are also now appearing on the Web Assigned by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .biz businesses .coop cooperatives .info unrestricted use .museum museums .pro lawyers, accountants, physicians Can be researched at http://www.icann.org/tlds/
7	Look Carefully at the URL Here are two sites that appear to be official and credible http://www.whitehouse.net/ http://www.whitehouse.gov/
8	www.whitehouse.gov Screen capture taken on March 29, 2001
9	www.whitehouse.net Screen capture taken on March 29, 2001
10	Fact or Opinion? Do you know the difference? A fact is a statement that can be proven true (or false) with some objective standard The temperature in this room is 72º
11	Fact or Opinion? An opinion is a statement that a person believes to be true but it cannot be measured against an objective standard It’s hot in this room It’s too hot in this room
12	Many People Firmly Believe Some Opinions Politics would be a topic area in which some people hold passionate opinions, but that passion does not change opinions into facts. Facts may help people form opinions and support certain beliefs, but that still does not change opinions into facts.
13	And then there are INFERENCES Inference—a statement/perception that appears to be true based on previous experiences. The greater the body of experience, the more an inference appears to be a fact.
14	Evaluating Info on Web Sites
15	Check the FACS—F How did you FIND the page? Avoid following hyperlinked sites when researching a topic Sites often links to other pages and sites that have similar views or information More diverse information can be found by checking varied sites from a search engine
16	Check the FACS—F How did you FIND the page? For Students: record the search phrase and the search engine that produced this site This is a helpful tip for general Web searching For Teachers: Give students a list of pre-searched sites that you would recommend for research This can be done by the class as focusing activity for an assignment
17	Check the FACS—F Is the material presented in a FACTUAL/objective manner? If the page presents theories, are they clearly labeled as such? If the page presents opinions, are they labeled as opinions and and does it indicate who holds these opinions?
18	Check the FACS—A Who is the AUTHOR of the site? Is the author clearly identified on the home page? Is the author’s name given? Is the author associated with a group, association, or academic institution? Is that clearly listed? Is the site presented by an association or group? What information is given about this group?
19	Check the FACS—C Can you CONTACT the author or association of the web site? Is there an email contact? Is there an address or physical location at which you can find or contact an association?
20	Check the FACS—C How CREDIBLE and/or qualified is the author of the site? Is this a history authority giving information on physics? Some areas of expertise are often mutually exclusive, as indicated above Some areas are not necessarily so A history authority might also be an authority on knitting
21	Check the FACS—C Is the information CONSISTENT with information found on other pages? Some information, such as data, might vary within a range The estimated population of North America at the end of the 15^th. Century Factual information should be consistent on a number of sites Christopher Columbus landed in North America in 1492
22	Check the FACS—C Can this information be CORROBORATED? Is the same information found on at least two other unrelated sites or from two other unrelated print sources? Make sure that the same author or publisher—both web and print—is not being used to corroborate information
23	Check the FACS—C Is the web site/page CURRENT? Good informational web pages should have some indication of when they have been posted and/or updated Some pages are dynamic—calendars, schedules, etc. Other pages are static—facts, research data, academic manuscripts Even static pages are updated—more information might be added, some might be deleted, but the date on a page tells you whether or not someone is taking an interest in maintaining the page
24	Check the FACS—S Does this information make SENSE to you? Is it logical? Is it consistent with what you already know? Is it consistent with what you are finding in research? If you answer “no” to any of the above, go back and check other criteria
25	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://www.end.com/~jynx/walrus/
26	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html
27	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm
28	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://lme.mnsu.edu/mankato/mankato.html
29	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://lme.mankato.msus.edu/akcj3/bmd.html
30	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://online.coled.mankato.msus.edu/ded/webcred/Mayor.html
31	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://www.d-b.net/dti/
32	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://www.malepregnancy.com/
33	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html
34	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html
35	An Outrageous Site for Evaluation Fun http://www.improb.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html