Evaluating Web Resources

LIBS100February 14, 2004

Source: Merriam-Webster Online, www.m-w.com

LIBS100 Word of the Day

Plagarism• to steal and pass off (the ideas or

words of another) as one's own

• to use (another's production) without crediting the source

Review

Search Engines

• Crawler Based

–www.google.com–www.yahoo.com–www.askjeeves.com

Review

Search Engines

• Subject Directory Sites

–“Classic Yahoo” dir.yahoo.com–Librarian’s Index to the Internetwww.lii.org

Review

Search Engines

• Meta-search Engines

–www.dogpile.com–www.vivisimo.com–www.hotbot.com

Review

Search Results

• Paid Listingsalso called Sponsored Listings

• Editorial Listingsalso called Web Listings, Results, etc.

Not always easy to tell the difference!

Review

Boolean Operators

• AND (+) locates records containing both terms.

• OR locates records containing either term.

• NOT (–) locates records containing first term, but not the second

• In Google (and most other search engines) the operators MUST be capitalized

Evaluating Web Resources

• Anyone can publish anything on web

• Anyone can claim to be an expert on the web

• Must evaluate site carefully

Steiner, Peter. Cartoon. The New Yorker 5 July 1993: 63.

URL Clues(Slide 1 of 2)

The URL can often give clues to author/sponsor of site.

.edu - Educational site

.com- Commercial site

.org - Nonprofit site

.gov - Government Site

URL Clues(Slide 2 of 2)

The URL can often give clues to author/sponsor of site.

.net - Network

.mil - Military

.int - International

Top Level Domains

Generic or Country Code Top Level Domains

Indicates geographical location - state (US) or Country

.ny.us (New York, United States

.edu.uk (Edu in United Kingdom)

Examples of TLD

New York State Web Sitewww.state.ny.us

Oxford University in Oxford, Englandwww.ox.ac.uk

Evaluating Web Sites

Publisher

Read URL carefully!

~ (tilde) or % usually personal pagesIs domain appropriate for topic?Does publisher make sense?

Evaluating Web Sites

Publisher

Government sites: look for .gov, .mil, .us or other country code

Educational sites: look for .edu

Evaluating Web Sites

Author• Who wrote page? Name?

Organization?• Credentials- Is author qualified to

write about subject?• Link on page to “About Us”,

Biography, etc.• Email address only is NOT sufficient

Evaluating Web Sites

Page Currency/Contents

Is page dated with last revision?

Is revision current?

Are there misspellings/mistakes on page?

Evaluating Web Sites

References

• Explore links, references to other pubs• If scholarly/research work, references

must be provided• Links should be well chosen, organize

and work

Evaluating Web Sites

Does it all add up?

• Why was page put on web?

• Could it be ironic, satire, parody?

• Is a web page best source for your information need?

Evaluating Web Sites

• Look at URL• Check author, contact person,

organization• Date of last revision• Purpose or intended audience• Page contents• Links and References check out?

Let’s check out a site

Google search:“hip hop” AND feminism

(10th hit on 2/13/05)

http://www.mysistahs.org/features/hiphop.htm

Homework

• For Wednesday, 2/16: Read Rodrigues 73-81.

• Journal Entry 5 will be in-class assignment on 2/16

• Annotated bibliography due 2/23/05

Annotated Bibliography

• Five sources on your research topic.• Two must be found in EBSCO databases• Write short summary (25-50 words) of

each source.• Do not plagiarize!!! Cannot copy

abstract to use for your summary.• We will work on this in-class on

Wednesday

References

Barker, Joe. “Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask.” UC Berkeley Library Jan 2005. 10 Feb 2005 <www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html>.

Rothenberger, Michelle. “Search Engines.” 6 Feb 2005 <http://www.carpeindexum.com/libs100/srcheng/srchdir.ppt>.

Staff. “Resources, INFS100.” Minneapolis Community and Technical College. 6 Feb 2005 <http://www.mctc.mnscu.edu/library/courses/infs1000/infs1000pt2.htm#Resources>.