Internet Literacy Your Vehicle for Information Evaluation

Why not Google? Anyone can make a website. The top sites Google gives you is based on popularity. Google only shows the surface web, not the deep web.

What is RADCAB? This tool will help you to assess and judge information you find online and to think critically about information

Relevancy Ask yourself: Is the information relevant (or closely connected) to my question? Am I on the right track?

Relevancy Keywords Let’s pretend we have a research assignment on recent findings about new planets being discovered outside of our solar system. USEEXAMPLEWHY Nouns and objectsplanet planets verbs and adverbs are usually thrown out Using ORplanet or planets discovery or find results with either one or both of your terms Use “quotes”“solar system”use quotes to get exact phrase results Using AND“new planet” and “solar system” results will include both of your search words Using NOT (or -)planet not star planet-star results are only the first word and not the second site:planets site:edu planets site:gov Only edu sites Only gov sites

Appropriateness Ask yourself: Is the information suitable for my age and core values? Will it help me answer my question?

Appropriateness Information sources that make you feel confused or uneasy are information sources to be exited ASAP. You are in charge of “policing” your own research activity. How? By setting your own personal boundaries for what you view, read and listen to that take into account your age and core values.

Detail Ask yourself: How much information do I need? Is the depth of coverage adequate?

Detail What are the details?How are they useful? Site mapNavigation and scope Page organization: titles, headings, and subtitles Navigation and evidence of quality construction Works cited pagesCredit to information sources used External linksAdditional information sources Internal search engineQuick information retrieval Interactive, graphic elementsVisual aids and interface interaction Design appealEasy and pleasant to use

Which site has enough detail?

Currency Ask yourself: When was the information published or last update?

Currency The quality of our research is related to how carefully we analyze the currency of our information sources. ndex.cfm ndex.cfm

Authority Ask yourself: Who is the author of the information? What are his or her qualifications?

Authority Authoritative information sources have everything to do with how accurate and credible the information presented is. What are the author's qualifications ? Is the author associated with a particular school, university, organization, company, or governmental agency? Is his or her address included on the website?

Bias Ask yourself: Why was this information written? Was it written to INFORM me, PERSUADE me or SELL me something?

Bias How do you know if the information you have found has a special agenda behind it? Does the information have a particular angle, slant, or spin to it? Look for clues. Clues like: the domain name the domain suffix (.com,.edu,.gov, etc.) the advertising the mission statement the authorship or organization behind the information the tone of voice or language used

Best places to start Iowa AEA Online EBSCO and World Book Web Sweet Search

Adapted with permission from author “RADCAB” ™ A mnemonic acronym for information evaluation Created by Karen M. Christensson, M.S. Library Media EducationRADCAB