How a Google Search Works

Click here to learn more about how a Google search works.

How to Find Stuff Online

Do You Know How to Surf?

How do you know if what you're finding on the web is reliable? Look at the "InfOSavvy" tips on how to "surf" safely and be smart about the information you are finding.

Reliable ResOurce

What is a Reliable Resource?

A way to know if your source of information is reliable is to check it for the following:

ACCURACY

AUTHORITY

BIAS

CURRANCY

RELEVANCE

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

ACCURACY Currently no web standards exist to ensure accuracy. Are there mistakes in spelling or word usage? Is the info reliable and error-free? Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the info? AUTHORITY Anyone can publish anything on the internet. Who is the author? Is she an expert on the topic? Does a reputable organization back this website? Is there a link to more information about the author or sponsor? What is the URL domain? The URL domain can provide information about the producer of the web site, and its purpose: .gov = Government Agency .net = Internet Service Provider .com = Commercial Site .edu = Higher education .mil = Military Site ~ ("tilde") = Personal Site .org = Organization; may be charitable, religious, or a lobbying group. Other domains include: .museum, .info, .biz BIAS View any web page as you would an infomercial on T.V. and ask yourself why it was written and for whom. What is the purpose of the web site? Selling you something, informative, educational, entertaining, persuasive, personal, a joke/hoax? Is the information factual or opinion? Is the content bias? Is the bias hidden or clear? How does the bias impact the usefulness of the info? Is there advertising on the page? CURRENCY If information is outdated it may not be accurate. When was the page last updated? How current are the links? Do they work? Is the info up-to-date or outdated? RELEVANCE You want to make sure a web site you find covers the information you are seeking. How in-depth is the material? Does it cover enough for your topic? Does the site contain original info or just links? Is the material at this site useful and accurate, or is it doubtful and repetitious?

Created by Rosalyn Obando on March 27, 2012.

Resources used to create this document:
Beck, S. E. (2009). The Good, the bad, & the ugly: Why it’s a good idea to evaluation web sources. New Mexico State University Library. Retrieved from http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/ evalcrit.html.
Johns Hopkins University. (2010). Evaluating information found on the internet. Retrieved from http://www.library.jhu.edu/researchhelp/general/evaluating/ index.html.
Kapoun, J. (1998). Five criteria for evaluating web pages. Cornell University Library. Retrieved from http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/ webcrit.html.
Kupersmith, J. (2010). Evaluating web pages: Techniques to apply & questions to ask. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved from http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html.
Lesley University Library. (2007). Evaluating web sites: Criteria for the classroom. Lesley University. Retrieved from http://www.lesley.edu/library/guides/research/evaluating_web.html.
Piper, P. S. (2000). Better read that again: web hoaxes and misinformation. Searcher 8(8). Information Today. Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/sep00/piper.htm.
Schrock, K. (2010). Classroom resources. Discovery Education. Retrieved from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/ schrockguide/eval.html.
University of Southern Maine. (2004). Checklist for Evaluating web resources. Retrieved from http://library.usm.maine.edu/research/researchguides/ webeval.php?ID=0.

Why Not Just Google It?

Video: "Why Use Library Databases."

Why not just "google" to get information for my research paper?

Top 10 Reasons Why not to Google for School Research*:

1) Google is an adult search engine, created for adult like searches
2) Google is geared towards commerece, not education.
3) Google automatically combines keywords and may give results with unrelated information.
4) Google does not consider authority (who posts info).
5) Google does not consider reliability (accuracy) of information gathered.
6) Google does not consider bias of information.
7) Google likely finds an overwhelming amount of results which is very inefficient for students to weed out unrelated information.
8) Google does not consider readability for students' reading levels.
9) Google has a page ranking system where likely, the best educationally sound result is not in the top 10 hits.
And . . .
10) Google functions based upon a quick parallel processing algorithm that groups results based upon likeness with the keywords.

* Found at www.merton.k12.wi.us/faculty/wieczorekS/nogoogle.cfm on Mar. 26, 2012.

Internet Safety

Surfing the Web:

Remember. . .

Anyone can publish or write anything on the internet and anyone can change who they really are. Explore these tips and links below for staying safe and smart online.

• Never share personal information about yourself such as your name, address, phone number, or a photo of yourself. 

• If something or someone online makes you feel uncomfortable or scared stop writing to them and tell a trusted adult.

• Do not meet someone or have them visit you without your parents permission.

• Remember that someone could pretend they are another kid but actually be an older adult.

Website Evaluation Checklist & Tools

Website Evaluation Checklist & Tools

Click on one of the links below to see if you can decide if it is for real:

• Dihydrogen Monoxide http://www.dhmo.org/
• The Ova Prima Foundation http://www.ovaprima.org/
• Save the Tree Octopus http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
• Petrol Direct http://www.petroldirect.com/
• http://city-mankato.us/

How do you know? A way to know if your source of information is reliable is to check it for the following:

1 1 1 1 1 1

ACCURACY Currently no web standards exist to ensure accuracy. Are there mistakes in spelling or word usage? Is the info reliable and error-free? Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the info? AUTHORITY Anyone can publish anything on the internet. Who is the author? Is she an expert on the topic? Does a reputable organization back this website? Is there a link to more information about the author or sponsor? What is the URL domain? The URL domain can provide information about the producer of the web site, and its purpose: .gov = Government Agency .net = Internet Service Provider .com = Commercial Site .edu = Higher education .mil = Military Site ~ ("tilde") = Personal Site .org = Organization; may be charitable, religious, or a lobbying group. Other domains include: .museum, .info, .biz BIAS View any web page as you would an infomercial on T.V. and ask yourself why it was written and for whom. What is the purpose of the web site? Selling you something, informative, educational, entertaining, persuasive, personal, a joke/hoax? Is the information factual or opinion? Is the content bias? Is the bias hidden or clear? How does the bias impact the usefulness of the info? Is there advertising on the page? CURRENCY If information is outdated it may not be accurate. When was the page last updated? How current are the links? Do they work? Is the info up-to-date or outdated? RELEVANCE You want to make sure a web site you find covers the information you are seeking. How in-depth is the material? Does it cover enough for your topic? Does the site contain original info or just links? Is the material at this site useful and accurate, or is it doubtful and repetitious?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Web Evaluation Checklist
Created by Rosalyn Obando on March 27, 2012.

More websites:  Decide their fate

Dihydrogen Monoxide 

http://www.dhmo.org/

GenoChoice

http://www.genochoice.com/

Save the Tree Octopus

 http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

RYT Hospital: Medical Breakthroughs

http://www.rythospital.com/2008/

Hetracil – the anti-effeminate medication

 http://www.hetracil.com/

The Centaur Excavation

http://notes.utk.edu/bio/unistudy.nsf/0/78dff46a51a10457852563f0000529bc?OpenDocument

How to Cite Your Sources

How to Cite Your Sources

"Works Cited," "Bibliography," "Cite your sources;" how ever your teacher is calling it, you want to be sure to write down the sources where you found your information for the project you are working on. There are many different ways of writing down your sources so ask your teacher how he or she would like your sources recorded. 
Here are the basic pieces of information you will most likely need to write down:*
If you found information from a . . . 
Book:
Author's Name. Title. Publisher. City. Copyright date.
Example: Gates, Doris. Lord of the Sky, Zeuz. Penguin Books. New York. 1982.
Internet:
Author's name (if listed). Page title. Site title. Date posted or copyright (if listed). Date found. Electronic address.
Wayman, Erin. The Secrete's of Ancient Rome's Buildings. Smithsonian.com. November 16, 2011. Found March 26, 2012. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Secrets-of-Ancient-Romes-Buildings.html
Encyclopedia:
Author's name (if listed). Entry title. Encyclopedia title. Edition (if given). Publication date.
Zeuz. World Book. 21st Edition. 2010.

More Resources on How to Cite Your Sources:

Plagiarism.org CREATING A BIBLIOGRAPHY

*Kemper, D., Sebranek, P., & Meyer, V. Write Source: a book for writing, thinking, and learning. Great Source Education Group. Wilmington, MA. 2009. (page 391).

Plagiarism & Intellectual Freedom

Plagiarism & Intellectual Freedom

What is Plagiarism? Plagiarism & How to Avoid it VIDEO: Avoid Plagiarism Types of Plagiarism VIDEO: Plagiarism Rap What are the consequences of Plagiarism? Failing an assignment. Not graduating. Not being admitted into a college or university or expelled. Losing a job. Jail time. VIDEO: Plagiarism case threatens graduation: wishtv.com

Definition: Plagiarism pla·gia·rism    [pley-juh-riz-uhm] Literary theft. Plagiarism occurs when a writer duplicates another writer's language or ideas and then calls the work his or her own. Copyright laws protect writers' words as their legal property. To avoid the charge of plagiarism, writers take care to credit those from whom they borrow and quote. "plagiarism." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 26 Mar. 2012. .

Examples
Solutions
1. Copying word for word from a source to your own paper without giving proper citation.
  Use quotation marks around the exact words caputred and cite the source.
2. Paraphrasing and claiming the idea or words as your own.
  Write down the source of the idea or words on your bibliography.
3. You have written a paper and are not sure if you have properly cited all of your sources.
  Talk to your teacher or library media specialist to be sure you have cited your sources properly.

Why Not Just Wikipedia?

Wikipedia can be great for causal information seeking, but when it comes to academic research, writers be advised:

• Wikipedia makes no guarantee of validity.
• Caution: It is not always best to cite an encyclopedia in academic research.
• Wikipedia does not claim to be correct.

Research & InfO

Click on a database or reliable resource below to begin your research:

READY REFERENCE Enchanted Learning Children's educational web sites and games. Use: "Already a member? Click here." to get to the advertising-free pages.

Magazine, newspaper, and reference book articles.(Grades K-5) Contains full text for more than 60 popular, elementary school magazines. (Grades K-5) Articles from World Book Encyclopedia (Grades 4-12) Contains full text for more than 70 popular, elementary school magazines.

How can I find a reliable resource? Why not just "Google" it? Why not just use Wikipedia? Plagiarism & Intellectual Freedom Citing a Source/Write a Bibliography Copyright-friendly images for education Wikipedia Kids Safe Search