English 1213 Dr. Jones Internet & Evaluation Frederic Murray, MLIS Instructional Services Librarian

Defining the World Wide Web

The Internet is… a major presence in our daily lives constantly growing helping make an enormous amount of information available

Web Searching is easy because….. Speed Choice Availability 24/7 Always get an answer

Web searching is difficult because… Organization Quality control Reliability

Web vs. Library Databases Web –Good for current events –Statistical Information –Pop Culture –Opinion –Information about Organizations & Groups Library Databases –Research Based Books & Articles –Full-text Resources –Authoritative & Peer- reviewed Materials –Information about People & Cultures –Easier to Search AND, OR, NOT Specific Subjects

Why Can’t I Get this Info on the Web? Humanities –American History $29.95 / yr –Journal of Teacher Education $30 / yr –College English $75 / yr Nursing & Allied Health –Applied Nursing Research $224 / yr –Nursing Science Quarterly $280 / yr –Journal of Community Health Nursing $475 / yr Sciences –Journal of the Optical Society of America $1,760 / yr –Journal of the American Chemical Society $3,589 / yr –Journal of Physics $7,115 / yr This doesn’t include pricing for electronic access or database subscriptions.

Forming New Habits Ever wonder what you might be missing?

Forming New Habits

Remember to Evaluate!!! Authority –Who created it? Who is responsible? –What credentials do they hold? What makes them qualified to discuss the topic? Accuracy –Can the information be verified? –Check the facts! Objectivity –How is the information being presented? –Is it objective or biased? What’s the point of view? Currency (important based on subject) –When was it published? –When was it last updated?

Step 1: Authority Web Pages – Credentials/Qualifications/Reputation – Who is responsible for content? Webmaster? Web team? Organization? Institution? Company?

Domain Names Which one is right? – – – – Whois.net – Indicates a reliable domain

Domain Names  Domain Names: ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has overall responsibility for managing the Domain Name System.ICANN

Step 2: AccuracyAccuracy Web Pages –Can the information be verified? Links to credible sites Copyright Works Cited Fact check with a printed source

Step 3: Objectivity Web Pages –Biased or Objective? Opinion/Fan sites Sponsoring Organization Agendas Political Propaganda Web hosting

Step 4: CurrencyCurrency Web Pages –When was it created and last updated? Well maintained web sites have an indication when it was last updated or modified Accessibility –Dead links Stability –Changes URLs frequently

Exercise: Evaluation Handoutt

Google Larry Page & Sergey Brin/ Grad Students 1998 Mission: "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.“ 2007: 23 Billion dollar corporation

Google: A Tool like any other Site Specific Command What it does: searches only specific domains What to type: bullying site:edu bullying site:gov What you’ll get: Relevant/Authoritative Sites from education & government websites

Google Scholar Google Scholar provides a simple way to search for scholarly literature. Search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.

Google Scholar Works best for citations Restrictions to Content –Fee-based –Often your Library already owns material –We’re working on improving access

RSS Feeds

Gather information from across the Web and bring it to you –RSS in Plain English (video)RSS in Plain English (video) –Library databases are now incorporating RSS feeds into their products, check here for more information.here

RSS Feeds - Services Google Reader NewsGator FeedReader SharpReader

Wikipedia Wiki: A Web application that allows users to add content to a collaborative hypertext Web resource (coauthoring), as in an Internet forum, and permits others to edit that content (open editing).

Wikipedia Jimmy Wales January 15, 2001 No Original Research NPOV (Neutral point of view) No owners, multiple anonymous authors Anyone with Internet access can create or edit an entry…Anyone

Wikipedia Contributors: male, English speaking, denizens of the Internet. Problem is not that it disregards the facts, but that it elevates them above all else. Most of the content is discussion/history of edits & not the entries themselves. Rosenzweig, Roy. “Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past.” The Journal of American History 93.1 (2006):

Wikipedia Participation maps popular, not academic concerns It is a working community…but is it a good historical resource? Lack of Critical Analysis Problematic as a sole source of information Like all encyclopedias…ok to start, terrible place to stop. Benefits are to its active participants, not its readers.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

Writing Your Paper Writing Center –Located in the basement of the library –Call for appointment # MLA Style –Style Sheets –MLA Handbook at Reference & Circulation Desk –

Questions? Contact me: Frederic Murray, M.L.I.S