1. Evaluating Websites: A Paul Cuffee Guide A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator, or the ADDRESS or the website. Each file on the Internet has a unique address for its location. The URL gives us a lot of clues about the website, before we even read the website.

2. The URL can tell you a lot about a website. The DOMAIN is especially important. It tells you what kind of a site it is:.org = non-profit organization (not trying to make money).com = commercial, or company ( will have most likely have ads that will try to SELL you something!).gov = government website.edu = educational, or college / university

3. Click here Click here to find out how to cut out part of a URL to find out more about the website you want to use as a source for research. Now that you know all about URL's, it is time to choose one, examine that website as if you were a detective (that is what an expert researcher is) and find out if it is a good source! If you can answer yes to all of the following questions, you have probably found a good source for your research...

4. WEBSITE EVALUATION CHECKLIST Will your site pass the test? 1. TOPIC: Does the site have to do with my topic? Does it answer my specific research question? How? http://hurricanes.nhl.com/ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ 2. DATE: Does the site include a publication date? If it has no date, there is no way to find out if the information is too old to use! Where did you find the publication date? What is the publication date? Is it a recent date? (the past 2 years?)

5. Can you find the publication dates on these sites? http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/ http://www.ariyam.com/2007/05/17/tornado-devastates-providence-ri/ http://rihs.wordpress.com/tag/hurricanes/

6. 3. AUTHOR: Can you find the author or sponsor? (A sponsor may be a group or people or an organization that published the site, instead of one person.) Who is it? Are they an expert on this topic? How do you know? The author is usually found at the top or the bottom of the page, or on the "About Us" or "About this Site" page. Once you have the author's name, you can use a search engine to find out more information about them, like if they have written anything else Click hereClick here to find out more information about evaluating the author of a website.

7. Can you tell who the author or sponsor is on these pages? Are they experts? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/23/hurricane-irene-us- threat_n_933834.html http://www.ready.gov/tornadoes http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural- disasters/

8. 4. BIAS: Is the website free from bias? A biased author may not pay attention to all the facts when forming his or her opinion. Bias is when something someone has preference for something, or prejudice against something. A biased source.... is based more opinion instead of fact. It does not include the whole truth. Is the website trying to SELL me something? Does the website seem to only give part of the truth about the topic? Does it use extreme language? http://www.tbwe.com/

9. 5. READING LEVEL: Is the reading level just-right for me? Do the five-finger test on the whole page. How many fingers are you holding up? Does it seem like it is a website made for kids to get information from? http://kids.discovery.com/tell-me/curiosity-corner/earth/natural- disasters

10. 6. QUALITY: Is it a high-quality website that is easy to use? Are there a lot of advertisements? Is the website confusing to get around? Once I click on a link, can I get back to where I was? Are there dead links?

11. Now try it on your own! Use Mrs. Madden's Website Evaluation Checklist to evaluate this site: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-tornado.htm