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Also
look for the word ‘User’ or a ‘~’ (tilde). Both indicate that
the site is most likely a personal Web page.
In
an article by Alan November in the September 1998 issue of High School Principal magazine [http://www.anovember.com/articles/zack.html
], November examines the true story of Zack, a high school student,
doing research for a paper on how the Holocaust never happened.
Zack was basing his report on information he found from what
he thought was a reliable, university- sponsored Web site, http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz/index.html
.
Looking
at the parts of this URL, what do we know about this address?
Even though this site is connected to Northwestern University
(nwu.edu tells us this), the tilde symbol (~) tells us that
it is a personal home page and the university does not sponsor
or validate its views. Be wary of such sites, as they are easily
mistaken for ‘official’ sites of universities and other institutes.
Safe searching for students means giving them the knowledge
to recognize the difference between personal views and those
accepted as validated research by a respected institute.
Who's Sponsoring the Web Site?When
you first look at the URL http://www.martinlutherking.org
, you may expect that this would be an appropriate site to visit
for information on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The
.org extension leads us to believe the site was created by an
organization that presents an authentic view of the life of
Dr. King. The following steps will help you examine this Web
page more closely:
1. Launch your Internet browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) and type in the URL http://www.martinlutherking.org. 2. Read the information on this page. Under the picture of Dr. King, click the words ‘Click Here’ next to ‘Contact the Webmaster’. 3. Your computer will launch the default email application and you will see the email address of the webmaster. Notice that the webmaster's email address ends with ‘stormfront.org.’ 4. Go to http://www.stormfront.org/. The Stormfront slogan, White Pride, World Wide, reveals that the martinlutherking.org Web site is sponsored by a group whose message differs greatly from that of Dr. King. Who's linked to the Web site?Another way to validate information on a Web site is to see what other sites are linked to it.1. Launch your Internet browser and go to http://altavista.com 2. In the search box, type ‘link://www.martinlutherking.org’ and then click Search. 3. A list of the Web sites that have linked to this site appears. 4. As a comparison, visit a different Web site that includes information about the life of Dr. King: http://thekingcenter.org/. 5. After exploring the content of this Web site, go to http://altavista.com and search for sites that link to this site by typing ‘link:// thekingcenter.org/’ in the search box. Compare these results to those of the previous search. Where can you find additional
resources? The Tom Snyder Productions Professional Development team specializes in developing and leading full-day and half-day workshops that are customized to help you use technology to improve student learning. Please visit www.tomsnyder.com/profdev or call 1-800-342-0236 for more information. Alan
November: Empowering Students with Technology An
Educators' Guide to Credibility and Web Evaluation Colorado
State University Libraries: How to Evaluate a Web Page Kathy
Schrock's Guide for Educators: Critical Evaluation Surveys Lesley
University: Evaluating Web Sites Virginia
Tech: Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources
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