1. Evaluating Websites It’s all up to you!

2. Today’s Goal O Discover the importance of evaluating websites. O Adopt the CARS method of evaluating websites. O Compare and contrast websites together. O Evaluate and judge websites to use in your research for the agricultural science fair.

3. Questions to Consider O How might a “good” website affect the planning of this project? O How could a “good” website affect the outcome of this project? O How could a “bad” website affect the planning of this project? O How might a “bad” website affect the planning of this project?

4. CREDIBILITY O Is the information fair? O Is the author expressing an opinion? ACCURACY O Is the information reliable? O Are there errors in spelling and grammar? O Are there dead links? O Were the facts checked by editors? RESPONSIBILITY O Who wrote this information? O Who published this site? O Is this an organization with strong opinions? O When was this site created? O Is the site current? O Are the links maintained? SUPPORT O Does the site list sources? O Where did the author get this information? O Can you check out the information using another source? O Is there contact information like an email or postal address? O Can you find your way around the site easily? O Does the site take a long time to load?

5. EVALUATE O The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus http://zapat opi.net/treeoctopus/ The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus O History of the Fisher- Price Airplane http://www. weathergraphics.co m/tim/fisher/ History of the Fisher- Price Airplane

6. Now You Try O From your list of websites, begin to evaluate the sources you will use for yourself. O Use the checklist provided. O Judge your websites. O Categorize your web sources. O Which ones will you keep for your research? O Which ones will you do without?

7. Departure Voucher O How might knowing this information benefit you after high school or college? O Describe a scenario in which evaluating a website will come in handy.