Three Essential Information Questions:
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Your sources need to be written by reputable and reliable writers. This can be especially tricky with websites. You need to determine who is the author of the page and what organization is sponsoring that web page. For example, does the page appear on CNN, or is it a personal web page on free web hosts such as Angelfire, Geocities or Xoom?
HINTS |
DOES THE WEB PAGE PASS THE
"EYEBROW TEST?"
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WHAT ABOUT SPOOF SITES?
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BUT - NOT ALL BAD WEB SITES ARE SO OBVIOUS
CLASSIC EXAMPLES OF SITES
LACKING AUTHORITY:
(Most of these turned up in actual
student papers!)
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU FIND ON A GOOGLE SEARCHRESEARCH TOPIC - Pop Culture in the 1970'sGo to Are all the answers the same?
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RESEARCH TOPIC - Pearl Harbor
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RESEARCH TOPIC -
Basketball
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RESEARCH TOPIC - Genetics
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RESEARCH TOPIC -
Vampires
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Take a look at some of the pages that link to the site in question. There are many
uncredible
(more like incredible) sites that link to The Federal Vampire & Zombie Agency.
BONSAI Kitten
http://www.bonsaikitten.com/
Who is the author of this site? Is there somewhere that you can order the necessary
equipment online? Do any reputable sites link to it?
National Driver's License Records Bureau
http://www.license.shorturl.com/
Seems like a useful site.... Here is how it describes itself: "Welcome to the National Driver's License Records Bureau web site -
where you can search our online database of over 220 million U.S. driver's license photos
and driver's license information currently on file, absolutely FREE. Search our files with
the form below."
Let's look at the address of the site to see if there are any clues: http://www.license.shorturl.com/
Hmmmm.... What domain is this site (.net? .com? .org? etc.) What does a government use as a domain name?
Would a government site offer free access to everyone to look up drivers liscenses?
Now let's see how the site works: http://www.license.shorturl.com/
Facts about...The Civil War from the "Facts About" Series
http://scnc.hps.k12.mi.us/~hwmedia/encyclopedia/content/civilwar.htm
Look at the address. Do you see anything suspicious?
Yes - there is that funny "eyebrow" thingy - but.......
What about the word encyclopedia in the address?
What about the home page - it's a school isn't it?
RESEARCH TOPIC - Pets 
Dog Island
http://www.thedogisland.com/
Type in the name of the site, along with the word hoax and see what comes up.
With the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency, I went to google and typed in the
following:
+"Federal Vampire And Zombie Agency" +hoax
There are also some standard, well regarded "hoax busting" sites that you can use.
Here is a good article about hoax sites:
Urban Legends After Dark
http://www.ulrc.com.au/html/AfterDark.asp?RefNum=ULAR0012&Page=1
Here are 3 dependable "hoax busting" sites:
Snopes
http://www.snopes.com
Hoaxbusters
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
A great starting place to find info on Internet hoaxes, fake email warnings, etc.
Museum of Hoaxes
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
Urban Legends
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
Note: Some of the above pages
may have perfectly accurate information - but they are not acceptable sources because
there is either no information about who the author is, or the information indicates that
the author is not qualified as an expert. Additionally, there is no organization
(larger site) sponsoring the information. If a page has no author listed, or no
credentials for that author, but if it is part of CNN or PBS or National Geographic etc.,
then it has some credibility.
If you STILL do no believe that there are many inaccurate
and even bogus sites out there - take a look at some of these examples:
INTERNET RESEARCH - THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
And then there is always the infamous CLONAID! 
Remember: It is your job to locate reliable sources. If your source is written by an unqualified author, your teacher will not be able to accept the parts of your paper that are based on that source. It is up to you to make sure that all your sources are reliable. When in doubt - find another source.
A sponsoring organization is very important to help you determine if a web page is authoritative. Kurt Vonnegut, New York State Author 2001-2003 Being able to answer the above questions will help you to correctly site an internet page. Virtually all web pages will have a sponsoring organization and that organization is what you write down on your citation slip under "Title of Site or Larger Work". Some pages will also have another organization/institution associated with it. That is what you write down on your citation slip under "Name of any associated institution". |
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques
to Apply & Questions to Ask |
These sites have a commercial, political or social agenda. The authors of the page want to sell you a product, a political agenda or a social position. It does not mean that the information is incorrect. It just means that it is probably biased or slanted towards the authors opinions. You will often need to reference some of these resources - but you should balance them with alternative viewpoints. Examples of advocacy web sites are:
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The NRA http://www.nra.org/ |
| The Brady Campaign http://www.bradycampaign.org/index.asp |
EXAMPLE:
What is the "larger site" that is sponsoring this page? At first glance - it would appear to be Circuses.com Without reading anything - do you think a young child might think that this is a site about going to the circus? Do you see any evidence of any sponsoring institutions? What does PETA stand for? Are they likely to have a favorable view of circuses? What are some suspicious facts?
So - how did I find out? I discovered it quite by accident. The student had listed the web page as http://www.circuses.com/introduction.asp. When correcting her paper, I mistyped the address and went to http://www.circuses.com/introduct.asp instead. Much to my surprise, I found myself on a 404 error page posted by PETA suggesting what might have gone wrong. Did the student lose any points?
No. The student was researching animal rights and she had listed PETA as an
associated site in her citation. She had also included a wide variety of sources on the
topic. Taken as a whole her works cited list covered a variety of
perspectives. |
Remember that you use fewer than the minimum required number of sources, you will not be able to score higher than 5 points on this section of the rubric. Works Cited Rubric IMPORTANT - To get a SUPERIOR grade (all 4 points in each category of the "works cited rubric") you must have MORE than the minimum required number of sources. Works Cited Rubric Other things to watch out for:
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Heavy dependence on one type of resource will usually not give you as balanced or thorough an overview as you need. In order to get even just 1 point on this part of the works cited rubric it states "Must have the minimum required sources." If you do not use all the required types of sources, you will get a zero on this part of the rubric. Works Cited Rubric URGENT NOTE: If you do not meet the minimum requirement of sources, you lose all credit for this area of the rubric and most of the credit under the "currency & coverage" section of the rubric. This means the highest grade you could possibly get is 65%. Don't let this happen to you! |
Here is a typical example of a source cited last year by a senior who got a grade of 35%
| "Medical Marijuana - Master Reference" http://www.druglibrary.org/ |
I could not find that page at the above address and had to use Google to search for it.
The full website address should have been:
But when go there, it is simply a list of links - little actual info is given. The student should have chosen one of the links, such as "The History of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States", and then cited that page according to the following format:
| Lastname, Firstname. "Title Of The Web Page In
Quotes." Title of Site or
Larger Work. Date Written. Name Of Any Associated Institution. Date of Access <http://www.website.org/page.htm> |
| Whitebread, Charles. "The History
of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States ." DRCNet OnlineLibrary of Drug Policy. 1995. Shaffer Library of Drug Policy. 13 January 2004 <http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/whiteb1.htm> |
NOTE: It is absolutely foolish to lose any points on this section of the rubric. Make use of the works cited forms which are always available in the library. You can also access these forms on the Gananda Library Website.
| RESEARCH TOPIC - POLITICAL INTEREST GROUPS
Report on the effect of a specific political interest group on politlics and elections in the United States Government. Don't let this happen to you! One of our former seniors turned in a paper about the environmental group "Greenpeace." One of their sources? Did they get ANY credit for that source? NO! What grade did they get? 35 % Why such a poor grade? Since I could not count their article from "Golf Digest", they did not meet the minimum requirements for number and variety of sources. That means the highest mark they could have recieved was a 65% What other problems did they have?
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To view a PowerPoint presentaiton, click here.
To learn how to avoid plagiarism, click here.
To see real life examples of the career impact of plagiarism, click here.
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