Website+Evaluation+Process

=Website Evaluation Process =

When sending your students to the production lab to do online research, encourage the 5 following steps. The steps will ensure reliable and useful resources. Remember, anyone, anywhere can publish something on the web. We want our students to have a clear vision of what is a legitimate and reliable resource and push aside those unreliable resources. Enjoy and I hope this will help you and your students with successful online researching!

1. Accuracy 2. Authority 3. Objectivity 4. Currency 5. Coverage

When researching the web for reliable resources, the user should follow these 5 steps and determine the 1. Accuracy, 2. Author, 3. Objectivity, 4. Currency, and 5. Coverage.

1. Accuracy depends on the content of the page. Is the material full of grammatical and spelling errors? Does the information align with other resources? These kinds of questions and "double checking" are what we as educators need to push our students to strive for.

2. Author. This is pretty self-explanatory. Does the resources have an author? Anyone can throw anything on the web. Is the material signed off by anyone that is willing to put their name with their work? Are they a reliable source? Just because there's a name with the content, doesnt mean they are legit. What references does this person have? That goes a long way. In a lot of cases, there is no author, but an organization. I.e. St. Jude's hospital would suffice as an organization and reliable. Look for an organization or author.

3. Objectivity is the message from the source. Ask yourself, what is this site's purpose? Is there a spin or message trying to be pushed on the viewer? Some sites have an objective, political, social, monetary, etc. Find and determine the object of the site and determine if it's useful or not. A neutral position or informational position is desirable.

4. Currency is also self-explanatory. The user, if going to use the site as a reference must determine if the content is current or out dated. A lot of information is obsolete by a monthly basis. Fields that change like diapers are medical and technological. Those using resources for those fields MUST remain current and find when the information was published.

5. Finally Coverage - how much of the information is being revealed? Is the resource simply an abstract or part of the publishing? This problem occurs with my students using PowerLibrary. They consult and try to site abstract rather than the entire source. This is not acceptable. Make certain that the site reveals the entire author, currency, objectivity and accuracy.