Accuracy and Authority
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· Who is the author or producer of this site? Does the developer provide documentation for the information? Is this site affiliated with a particular institution?
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· What are the credentials of the author of this site? How knowledgeable is the author, or group, on the subject matter of this site? Are the sources for any factual information listed so they can be verified in another source?
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· Does this site contain documentation for the information? Is it possible to verify the information to chick for accuracy?
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· How comprehensive is the information provided at this site?
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· Is the information free of grammatical, spelling, etc., errors?
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· If statistical data is presented in graphs and charts, are they clearly labeled and easy to read?
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· Is the information at this site unique and not easily accessible from another source?
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· Is the date included? Does the date indicate when the information was first written, when it was placed on the web, and last updated?
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· Is the information updated on a regular basis?
Objectivity of Information
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· Is this site affiliated with a particular institution? If so, which? Have you ever heard of this organization?
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· What do you think is the purpose of this web site? Is it to persuade, entertain, inform, or perform a public service?
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· If there is any advertising on the page, is it clearly differentiated from informational content? How might the advertiser be connected with the web author or producer?
Design
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· Is this Web site organized in a logical manner?
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· Are the instructions for navigating this site clear? Can this site be used without much instruction?
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· Are all the parts of this Web site workable?
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· Can you navigate easily from one page to another?
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· What is the purpose of the graphics; are they decorative or instructional?
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· If there is a print version of this information, does it corroborate the Web site information?
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· Is this a complete Web site, or is it under construction?
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After students have completed the information seeking portion of this activity, they will review what they have found, and make a poster of their research sample. The poster should include the following elements:
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· Student name, class information
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· Topic and uncovered research
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· All search engines used in information gathering
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· Title, author, and date for each site visited
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· Response paragraph for each site visited, explaining how the student applied the evaluation criteria to each Web site.
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· Comparison paragraph of site evaluation, which weighs each site against all others
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· Problems encountered while performing the Web search
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· Mini-glossary of computer and Internet terminology pertinent to doing an Internet search.
Each student, or pair of students, should be afforded the opportunity to present their poster to the group, so that student may benefit from each other's research methods. While the goal of this activity is to learn how to navigate the World Wide Web to find information, student will also have begun the research for their science fiction stories.