Evaluating Web Pages

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Identify / Verify the Source --Authority	Content / Scope of the Page	Websites to Evaluate	Compare these Websites

Take an Information Literacy Quiz --Take the following quiz to see if you are Somewhat Savvy (0-5 points), Moderately Savvy (6-10 points) or Downright Nerdy (10+ points)

Identify / Verify the Source -- Authority
	What Does the URL Tell You? How to Read a URL --There are several hundred top-level domain names, including COM, EDU, GOV, MIL, NET, ORG and as well as unique two-letter combinations for every country. Scroll down and answer questions 1,2, and 3 under the section title --the importance of reading URL's
	Who Owns the Page? Domain Tools (formerly Whois the Source) Use this link to verify the owner of a website and get some information about the links authority. -- All Domain names on the Internet are registered with "Domain name registrars". Domain name registrars are entities which have been allocated the authority to register names for a specific subset of domain names. Most Domain name registrars provide a "whois" function, where you can ask "whois domain.name" and they will tell you who has registered that domain name. Check the site in Alexa for a summary of the site, traffic information, and lists of webisites that link to the site. Use Domain tools search to find information about www.chuh.org and www.whitehouse.net and then www.whitehouse.gov Persons who link to a page are also a good indicator of reasons to access a certain page. Type in the Google search box the words link:siteURL (eg, link:www.chuh.org) of a Page to see a list of who accesses that page. If for example a page is about Martin Luther King and the majority of links that come back are from white supremecist groups, you should investigate the site more thouroughly. Examples illustrating Source Identification GigaLaw --Source is clearly indicated Allrefer.com -- Multiple sources different from site owner Gatt ,org-- Owner masked
	Discover the Site Owners Expertise Examine credentials in the Author's bio or About Us page: Two examples of Expertise: Doug Isenberg -- Gigalaw Bio -- Questionable experitse Check for grammar and spelling errors Examine links to and from other web pages -- Use the Google search box to type link:the URL of the website If you are serious of about determing the author of a site's expertise, you can use sites like Amazon.com or Cleveland Public Library to see if the author has pusblished any books in the area.
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Content / Scope / Bias of the Page
	Does the source provide a balanced viewpoint? Examine the writing style is it trying to influence your opinion. Examine the advertising does it influence the content? What is the audience that this page is targeting? What is the primary intent of this page? (ie to sell, inform, persuade. as a joke?
	Insert a description of the link here.
	Insert a link here. Insert a description of the link here.

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Websites to Evaluate
	Institute for Historical Review -- Especially check out the archives of the Journal for Historical Review --Issue one --Photographs of the Holocaust
	BuyDehydratedWater.com
	Case Analysis of a Historic Killer Tornado Event on the 10 June 1938
	A Giant List of Hoax and Fake Websites from Dillon School District -- Scroll down the page to find the section with the links
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Compare these Websites (Use the Worksheet Provided)
1	Britain for Americans	Britain Express: Your Guide to English Culture and History
2	VirusMyth	AIDS.ORG
3	Lacuaninc.com -- Removing problem memories	Memory -- from the Exploratorium
	A Flash Tutorial on How and Why to Evalutate Websites -- A 10 minute tutorial with website examples.
	Download The Web Evaluation Worksheet Here
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