| Evaluating Sites
This material was compiled at Heartland Area Education Agency 11, Johnston, Iowa 50131-1603 by Susan Schrader. Originally published © January 1997 in Internet Brief NOTES. Reproduced with permission. |
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Once students (and teachers) have found sites of interest on the Internet,
questions need to be asked about the relevance, accuracy, date, source, and
reliability of information. When students do research using books and
magazines, there was a certain amount of "legitimacy" to the sources -- they
were by a known author/publisher, an editorial review board probably looked at
the information before it was printed, the copyright date was visible, the
information was probably geared toward a certain age of student, the teacher
or media specialist may have reviewed and chosen the material before it was
given to the student, etc. With Internet sites, particularly on the World Wide Web, there may not be the "legitimacy" or the basic information students need to be usre the information is usable. The Internet is a truly democratic publishing medium -- anyone can publish. Ask yourself these questions:
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