Website Validity DOING QUALITY RESEARCH MR. ERFURTH, 2015

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1 Website Validity DOING QUALITY RESEARCH MR. ERFURTH, 2015

2 Today s Goal Students can determine the validity and value of information they find on the internet while researching.

3 Open Web vs. Paid Resources Paid Resources District-purchased Curated Valid for research Peer-reviewed (in many cases) The Open Web Total free for all Good? Bad? Anyone can post anything It can look real good, too No guarantees about veracity of information

4 The Open Web Is how we end up with the #swagpigeon

5 Easy Clues Trustworthy Website A name you (and most people) recognize New York Times, TIME, History.com, etc. Well organized, shows a physical address Allows you to contact the people behind the website Needs More Verification Has the same phrase repeated throughout the page Probably the search term you used Tons of advertisements URL is a bit shifty Ex: cancer-treatmentscience.com, real-history.com Wikipedia

SEO Traps What is SEO? Search Engine Optimization Ways for companies to get their websites at the top of Google Doesn t matter if they re any good How do I spot it?

6 SEO Traps What is SEO? Search Engine Optimization Ways for companies to get their websites at the top of Google Doesn t matter if they re any good How do I spot it? Repeated keywords The World War II civilians suffering from World War II invasions were often frustrated with their nations WWII militaries URL with repeated keywords or hyphens You won t believe what happened next! Clickbait/linkbait (example)

7 It s easy to post anything online. It only costs about $10/year for the domain, then maybe $5/month for the hosting. Make your intelligence worth more than a cheap website! YOU DESERVE BETTER

8 TLDs (top level domains).com,.org,.net,.info, etc. Anyone can register one of these for nearly no cost at all There is no checking by ICANN for reputation before selling domains Doubt everything you see! All the time!.edu,.gov,.mil Strict requirements to get a domain under.edu Must be an educational institution.gov is all United States government Other governments have their own tld s.mil only the US Military Careful with pages with a ~ They re user pages

9 Other TLDs.it,.tv,.so,.at,.co.uk,.uk,.de all other countries. Varying requirements

10 Ask Websites Yahoo Answers, Ask.com Really, guys? Mostly people copying their homework questions to get them answered by people who don t know estion/index?qid= AAlxf7F Value of information? Validity of information? Especially Controversy! For example, marijuana: stion/index?qid= a AjZsht Also, beware anything that says studies suggest You re victim to confirmation bias (aka myside bias ) more often than you realize In short they re worthless!

11 Evaluating a Site Directly Who? What? Where? Who made this website? What organization is behind it? Is it crazy uncle Ted, or is it the US Navy? Check it out! What is on the site? Check out other articles Nothing but articles about your topic: bad news Where is it? TLDs, country of origin When? Why? When was this page made? Recent articles are more valuable to research knowledge changes over time If you can t find a date doubt the page! Why was the page made? If it s trying to convince you of something, it s biased Don t trust it especially if it convinced you!

12 Beware the Search Bubble! Search Engines are Designed to Give you What you Want If you (or someone on your computer/browser/google account) searches for mostly one type of news, that s what you ll find when you re not searching for it Facebook does this too you ll begin to think your viewpoint is the only one because you can t seem to find the others! relevance based on interest rather than academic value Search engines are advertising tools, not research tools. They re pretty much our only choice on the external web Related TED Talk: Eli Pariser, Beware online filter bubbles er_beware_online_filter_bubbles

13 Getting Our Hands Covered in HTML A Case Study Trying to learn about the Illuminati Google! real illuminati story Another Case Study (more Illuminati) Shady website Had lots of information Several resources m481/groupa/illumhist.html Messing with the URL Delete parts of it get to the bottom of that page, whether they gave you a link or not Appeared legitimate Many details, historical references, etc. Domain whois Revealed that the website was an elaborate advertisement Made by the author of a book for sale on Amazon

14 Trustworthy Online Resources First, obviously, the district paid resources Google Scholar Good place to start, but you still must be careful Major Newspapers Be aware of bias by authors and institutions PBS.com JSTOR.org Britannica.com Find some of your own! Spend the time searching NOW, not when you have an assignment due in two hours History.com Careful: mostly trying to get you to watch their channel Be aware of the show s angle

Strange Science: The Rocky Road to Modern Paleontology and Biology

Strange Science: The Rocky Road to Modern Paleontology and Biology Jasroop Pannu Feb 20,13 Dinosaur Webquest Step 1 Age of the dinosaurs This website is straightforward and it s easy to find. This website was updated recently so that shows it s a trustworthy website The