Mrs. Hensley BCMS LMS

Standard: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge Enduring Skill: Find, evaluate and select appropriate sources to answer questions.

Prejudice, unacknowledged favoritism Leaning toward one particular view Subjective viewpoint vs. neutral or objective viewpoint Biased writing is not always bad, but it helps to be able to recognize biased writing when we read it or when we write it. Being biased in your own writing can injury your integrity and hurt your grade.

Inform Persuade Sell

Clue #1: Mission Statement Clue #2: Domain suffix Clue #3: Authorship Clue #4: The Advertising Clue #5: Organization name behind the information Clue #6: The Language

Some websites have an “About this site” link on their home page. This link brings the user to a page within the site that describes the mission and goals of the site. This mission statement helps the user understand what point of view the author(s) is writing from and what the primary purpose of the Web site is.

The domain suffix is a good indicator of the type of organization behind the information. This is an easy clue to check because it always appears in the Web address. For examples, some common U.S. domain suffixes are: *.org non-profit organization *.com commercial *.net network or net provider *.edu education *. gov government *.mil military

The suffix names may or may not tell us much about the site’s purpose, however. The.com,.org, and.net suffixes are not officially monitored to assure that the suffix matches the site owner(s). Other suffixes like.gov,.mil, and.edu are more closely monitored and are known to be more authoritative than other domains. Web sites hosted outside the United States have their own country-specific domain suffixes. Some examples are:.uk for the United Kingdom,.jp for Japan, and.dk for Denmark. How are they monitored??? You may want to check before using the site.

The authorship of a Web site is not always easy to find. We must sometimes dig through a Web site to locate the authorship. Knowing who the author is, and his or her background, will help determine if there is any bias in his or her Web writing.

Some Web sites are designed solely for the purpose of selling something. Other Web sites offer information mixed with selling or advertising. You need to be cautious that the advertising is not affecting the information given on that site. Many sites with credible, accurate information have ads. These ads help support the Web sites. Web sites can be expensive and time consuming to develop. Funding from the ads may help pay those that work on the site for their time.

The name of the organization or company backing the Web site offers more specific clues about the origin and purpose of the information than the domain suffix. Often the organization or company name can be found in the domain name (the words or letters that appear together with the domain suffix). If there is no domain or an organization name then you will need to dig through the Web site and find this information to determine what companies and organizations are influencing the information.

Language can determine the authors opinions and attiudes Emotionalism: Exaggerated display of strong feelings. May appear as politically charged labels, name-calling, swearing, sarcasm. Rumor & conspiracy theories: may be fun to read but the information is not fact Humorous writing: is biased when the humor is at someone else’s expense. Soap Box: will share opinions and show ones views Objective and subjective: Objective deal with facts only. Subjective share an opinion, not necessarily fact.

The bird built a nest outside the window. The stupid bird built a messy nest outside the dirty window.

Information for this Power Point provided by Wikipedia. ;) Just Kiddin’ Citation

Christensson, K. (2006). Radcab Your Vehicle for Information Evaluation. Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin: UpstartBooks. Mind hacks: 4 cognitive biases you can use to your advantage. (2015, April 28). Retrieved October 13, Child magnifying glass. (2011, September 22). Retrieved October 13, Spy Baby Names. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13,

Name one clue to look for when determining if a Web site has useful and has factual information? What are the three best domain suffixes to consider for gathering information for research? List two reliable resources you could use when researching Christopher Columbus?