1. Evaluating Online Sources Mrs. Tarr Fort LeBoeuf High School Library February 2011

2. Who created this site? Who designed this web page? What are the person or organization’s credentials? Is the site professional-looking and free of obvious errors? What is the domain name? –.com,.org,.gov,.edu

3. What is the purpose of the site? To educate or inform? To sell something? To persuade you to believe something? Can you tell fact from opinion? =

4. American Lung Association Cigarette smoking during childhood and adolescence causes significant health problems, including respiratory symptoms such as coughing, phlegm and wheezing; asthma-related symptoms; and impaired lung growth. Smoking is responsible for approximately one in five deaths in the United States. 90 % of adults who smoke started by age 21 and half of them had become regular smokers by their 18 th birthday.

6. What content is included? Are both sides of an issue presented? Is the site current? Look for a date. Does the site have information you have seen in print sources? Does the site have a lot of information, or is it limited in details?

7. Things to Remember: Authorship – who created this site? Purpose – what is the purpose of this site? What do the creators want me to do? Content – does it have legitimate information I’ve seen in other print and online sources? Currency – how old (or new) is this site?

8. Searching Tips: Search engines like Google search the entire world wide web. Subject directories like Yahoo search websites that human beings have researched. Vary your search terms – changing just one word in the search box can give you different results.

9. Googling tips: Add site:edu or site:org after your words –This will eliminate all of the.coms,.nets, etc. Use define: before a word to get a list of definitions. Use a ~ in front of a word and your search will also look for synonyms of that word.

10. Bibliography American Lung Association. 2008. 16 October 2008. http://www.lungusa.orghttp://www.lungusa.org Berger, Pam. 21 st Century Strategies for Strengthening Your School Library Program. Bellevue, WA: Bureau of Education & Research, 2008. Google. 10 September 2006. www.google.comwww.google.com “Harry Potter.” www.google.com 10 September 2006. netfrance.m6blog.m6.frwww.google.comnetfrance.m6blog.m6.fr High School Ace. 16 October 2008. http://highschoolace.com/ace/ace.cfmhttp://highschoolace.com/ace/ace.cfm “Smoker.” www.google.com 10 September 2006. http://www.sandiegojack.com/www.google.comhttp://www.sandiegojack.com/ Valenza, Joyce. A WebQuest About Evaluating Websites. 2 January 2001. http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/evalwebstu.htmlhttp://mciu.org/~spjvweb/evalwebstu.html 10 September 2006. “Witchcraft.” www.google.com 10 September 2006. www.law.umkc.edu/.../ftrials/salem/SAL_IHAN.HTMwww.google.com www.law.umkc.edu/.../ftrials/salem/SAL_IHAN.HTM Yahoo. 10 September 2006. www.yahoo.comwww.yahoo.com Always cite your sources! (This includes images that you put in your presentation.)