Website ValidityDOING QUALITY RESEARCH

MR. ERFURTH, 2015

Today’s Goal

Students can determine the validity and value of information they

find on the internet while researching.

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

The Open Web

Is how we end up with the #swagpigeon

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-treatment-

science.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

http://www.contentmarketingspot

.com/search-engine-

optimization/what-does-an-seo-

consultant-do

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

www.worldwarii-encyclopedia-stuff.com/world-war-ii/wwii/civilians

“You won’t believe what happened next!”

Clickbait/linkbait (example)

It’s easy to post

anything online.

It only costs about $10/year for the domain, then maybe $5/month for the hosting.

https://www.godaddy.com/domains/domain-name-search.aspx?ci=87929

Make your intelligence worth more

than a cheap website!

YOU DESERVE BETTER

“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

Other TLDs

.it, .tv, .so, .at, .co.uk, .uk, .de…

all other countries. Varying requirements

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-

level_domains

“Ask” Websites

Yahoo Answers, Ask.com…

Really, guys?

Mostly people copying their

homework questions to get them

answered by people who don’t

know

https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/qu

estion/index?qid=20090506144607

AAlxf7F

Value of information?

Validity of information?

Especially Controversy!

For example, marijuana:

https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101231003312AAjZsht

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!

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!

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’”

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_paris

er_beware_online_filter_bubbles

Getting Our Hands Covered in HTML

A Case Study

Trying to learn about the Illuminati

Google!

“real illuminati story”

Several resources

http://people.virginia.edu/~sfr/enam481/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

Another Case Study (more

Illuminati)

Shady website

Had lots of information

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

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

History.com

Careful: mostly trying to get you to

watch their channel

Be aware of the show’s angle

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