“Garbage In, Garbage Out” by Joyce Kasman Valenza How Helpful Is this Website? A Review By Jo Ann Grant Click here to read article

Synopsis of Article As educators, it is our job to encourage students to evaluate their resources and hold them accountable for quality Prior to the Internet, students had help in selecting resources such as books & journals that were carefully screened by librarians Unfortunately, the Web is a “self-publishing medium”

Synopsis of Article Anyone can voice an opinion or give out information on the With today’s technology, most students rely heavily on the Internet for information According to the Pew Internet & Education Study, 71% of online teens say that they used the Internet as the major source for their most recent school projects or reportsPew Internet & Education Study

Synopsis of Article Valenza provides the following useful information: How to evaluate search tools How to evaluate result lists How to evaluate author’s credentials How to evaluate sites students’ plan to use Provides links on evaluating websites and sample activities

Jo Ann’s Critique I felt this topic is important because so many students are relying upon the Internet as their primary resource in finding information Valenza’s article brings up an excellent point that students need to develop the skills to evaluate quality Internet resources

Jo Ann’s Critique This article provides numerous links to websites that provide information on how to evaluate websites and activities that teachers can use in the classroom The websites are current and I feel provide quality information and activities Valenza’s description of the various strategies that students can use to evaluate websites is thorough and useful

Jo Ann’s Concluding Remarks The article itself is very easy to read and presents information clearly and in an organized manner Overall, I felt this article is very informative and useful I recommend this article highly for educators to use in teaching students how to evaluate websites