Critical Evaluation Techniques

I. Why Teach Web Evaluation Skills?

The Web -- Teaching Zack to Think
Written by Alan November for the September 1998 for High School Principal Magazine.

II. Fun Sites to Show Your Students

A lot of websites are just plain fun! They might be done as a joke, or as a parody. The parody sites often have something valuable to say about the site they are "spoofing". Students just need to be aware of the motivations behind the site, and be able to separate fact from fiction or propaganda. It is important that we teach them these skills. This became obvious to me when I asked a group of seniors to pick the most objective site from list of web pages about different countries of the world - and the majority of them picked The CIA Factbook.

IMPORTANT! - Take a look at these sites to see why it is important for both you and your students to know who is presenting the information found online.

Clones-R-Us
Is this site real or a spoof ? You decide.

"Hoax? Scholarly Research? Personal Opinion? You Decide!"

The Mountain Walrus

The Jackalope

Sasquatch

The Tree Octopus

Dihydrogen Monoxide (a most dangerous chemical compound)

California's Velcro Crop under Challenge

The True but Little Known Facts about Women and Aids

The Museum of Hoaxes

Congress Passes "Americans With No Abilities Act"

RYT Hospital

III. How To Evaluate a Web Site

Ten C's For Evaluating Internet Sources
"The Ten C's provide criteria to consider in evaluating Internet resources".

CRITICAL EVALUATION INFORMATION
This form has become a standard evaluation form for web evaluation in elementary, middle schools and high schools.

CyberGuides
Karen McLachlan, Library Media Specialist at East Knox High School, Ohio developed these guides to use with teachers and students to evaluate content and graphic design of home pages.

Evaluating Internet Research Sources

Evaluating Web Pages: A WebQuest
Lesson plan with web sites to teach web evaluation for secondary school students.

Evaluating Web Resources
A web page on evaluating internet sources. This page is written by a reference librarian from Wolfgram Memorial Library at Widener University, Chester, PA.

Evaluation Criteria
This is one of my favorite sites for web evaluation. It is short, simple and includes the rationale for evaluating web sites.

Fact, Fiction, or Opinion? Evaluating Online Information
An article on web site evaluation from Education World.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources
Covers the many issues of web evaluation. Includes excellent examples of "the good, the bad, and the ugly".

The Quality Information Checklist
Here are eight ways of checking information on web sites.

Updated: July 5, 2008 12:00 PM