1. Research Website Evaluation

2. Questions to ask WHAT'S AT STAKE? HOW RELIABLE DOES MY INFORMATION HAVE TO BE? "Good enough" is good enough ? Acceptable to my teacher ?

3. Parts of the URL www.mywebsite.com/agreatsite/volcanoes.htm Main web address Homepage Domain name Folder name Web page name WHERE?

4. What CAN THE URLS TELL YOU? Who "published" it? Look at the URL up to the first  / (dash) Example: http://music.yahoo.com/lyrics/ www.mtv.com/lyrics http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/ Is it a personal page? Look for personal names Example: www.jeanneduprau.com/books.shtml WHERE?

5. What type of organization is behind it? Check the domain name Examples: http://www.amazon.com http://www.hayscisd.net/ http://www.worldwildlife.org.orgnon – profit organization.eduuniversity or college.mil,.gov,.usgovernment site.com,.neta business, business related.uk,.jpa foreign website { WHERE?

6. WHAT CAN THE PERIMETER OF THE PAGE TELL ME? o Who or what agency is the author? o What is their bias? "About us“ "Sponsors" "Biography" No background info WHO?

7. WHAT DO OTHERS SAY ABOUT THE PAGE? o Who links to it? Who owns it? Paste the URL into http://alexa.com o Google the author's name and see what company created your website. WHO?

8. WHY WAS IT PUT ON THE WEB? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE PAGE? inform with facts/data? share/disclose? entice/sell? explain/persuade? dupe/rant/satire? WHY?

9. Practice Website Evaluation Visit the Website Evaluation page on the SMS Library Research Wiki http://smslibrarypathfinders.wikispaces.com/Website+Evaluation Choose one website from List A and one website from List B to evaluate. Share with your findings with your partner.

11. TRANSITIONAL PAGE

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