Website Evaluation Search Tips & Tricks

Blythewood High School ‘s Cyber Center Presents: Website Evaluation Search Tips and Tricks Friday, November 4, 2011 Presented by Leah Bartys Blythewood High School’s Mission : Blythewood High School provides engaging educational opportunities through a rigorous curriculum, innovative technology, and involvement in our diverse community to produce responsible citizens who contribute to the present and excel in the future. 1TWO1 Computing Integrating technology into instruction and encouraging students to explore and create meaningful content. International Society for Technology in Education’s NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) NETS for Students NETS for Teachers NETS for Administrators Cyber Center’s Mission : To ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. (Information Power, 1998).

Website Evaluation Search Tips and Tricks NETS for Students, Standard 3 Research and Information Fluency  Locate  Evaluate

Website Evaluation Search Tips and Tricks Some of us may be under the impression that because we’ve been searching the World Wide Web for years and we’ve done okay, so this isn’t really that important. As it continues to grow in its accessibility, online information gathering is becoming the norm. (Get the answer anytime and anywhere…) The World Wide Web is only getting bigger and bigger. Anybody can create a website that looks credible. Google doesn’t evaluate, it crawls. (This is the case for most of the search engines we use on a day to day basis.)

Website Evaluation What can you do? 1.Consider using the tools provided through the Cyber Center website’sCyber Center website’s research tab… ** bhscybercenter.weebly.com **bhscybercenter.weebly.com 2. Teach your students to effectively evaluate online resources. These tools cannot answer every question, so…

Website Evaluation

Evaluating Websites, video created by Suffolk County Community College

Website Evaluation Cartoon by Peter Steiner, published page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker (Vol.69 (LXIX) no. 20) Consider Who… Who or what organization/company created this site or compiled this information? Do they have an agenda or bias? Are they credible? Do they have any kind of authority on the subject? Are they a professional in the field?

Website Evaluation versus Consider What… What information and details am I really looking for? What information is this site providing? Does it meet or address my information needs? What is the purpose of this site? To educate? To entertain? To make money? Photos used under Creative Commons from Phillie Casablanca (apples) and edans (oranges)Phillie Casablancaedans

Website Evaluation Consider When… When was this site created? Is it dated? What is the copyright date? Is it easy to find? When was the content last updated? Is my search topic time sensitive? (ex. Computer Technology vs. the Civil War) Photos used under Creative Commons from H is for Home.H is for Home

Website Evaluation Consider Where… Where did the author of this resource get his/her information? Are sources cited? Photos used under Creative Commons from brownpau.brownpau

Website Evaluation Consider Why or WORTH… Will the information provided by this source enhance or add value to my project, presentation, or research paper? Photos used under Creative Commons fromKellBailey.KellBailey

Website Evaluation Find, alter, or create a website evaluation form that is tailored to your subject and your assignment expectations. Ex. Dalhousie University’s Checklist for Evaluating Websites includes a detailed list of evaluation criteria.Checklist for Evaluating Websites Introduce your students to some suspicious websites. Examine them and discuss why they are or are not credible sources. Resource: Explore this Gallery of Hoax websites for some stellar conversation starters. Keep in mind, though, that not all faulty resources are so easily identified.Gallery of Hoax

Search Tips & Tricks Web Search Strategies in Plain English, by CommonCraft

Search Tips & Tricks Boolean Search Terms to Hone in on What You Really Want or not - “ ___ ” and +

Search Tips & Tricks Try It…  Begin a Google Search.  Type Abraham Lincoln into the search bar.  Note the number of hits resulting from this search.  Alter your search term by adding quotation marks  “Abraham Lincoln”  Note the number of hits resulting from your new search. It probably didn’t decrease by much, but there should be some difference.  Now let’s narrow the search even more. Let’s say you’re looking for information on Abraham Lincoln’s childhood, so enter your new search using a Boolean search term  “Abraham Lincoln” AND childhood  Again, this should narrow your results even more.

Search Tips & Tricks Now Let’s Try It in DISCUS…  Begin a DISCUS SmartSearch.  Type Abraham Lincoln into the search bar.  Note the number of hits resulting from this search.  Alter your search term by adding quotation marks  “Abraham Lincoln”  Note the number of hits resulting from your new search. It probably didn’t decrease by much, but there should be some difference.  Now let’s narrow the search even more. Let’s say you’re looking for information on Abraham Lincoln’s childhood, so enter your new search using a Boolean search term  “Abraham Lincoln” AND childhood  Again, this should narrow your results even more. Take a moment to scroll through your results.  Your results may seem a bit random. Return to the top of the screen and look for the results display mode sort box. Select relevancy-ranked. Your results should now reflect your information needs.

Search Tips & Tricks There are other tricks to use when searching that allow you to: find what other sites link to a particular source find other sources that are related to a particular source and more…

Search Tips & Tricks For more advanced learners and for teachers who want to know how to do it all, you may want to refer to… Google for Educators

Search Tips & Tricks Keep it simple for most students.

Search Tips & Tricks Other Resources: Google Guide Google Web Search | More Search Help

Thank you! And, before you go… Please take a moment to fill out the in-service exit slip that is linked on the Cyber Center website.in-service exit slip Take time, now, to explore either DISCUS, the Cyber Center databases, or the World Wide Web using the search tips and tricks we discussed. If you find anything really exciting for your content area, please submit it to The Collective Brain on the Cyber Center’s website under Tools for Teachers.