Fact or Opinion? - How authentic is your search result information?

The Internet is obviously wonderful for gathering megatons of information on almost any topic imaginable. Do you know, however, if that information is truthful and unbiased? Evaluating websites and the information on them is something students, and many of us, don't think about enough. We also tend to ignore giving credit to authors of the information when using it for our own purposes. Below are a few links to sites which can guide you and your children through the process of doing research on the Web and how to process that information, whether for your own enrichment or for a school assignment.

Authenticating Information from MediaSmarts - Here is a snippet from the "Authenticating" section.

The first rule of thumb to teach kids when looking at all online information is to be skeptical – when in doubt, doubt! Then apply a Who, What, Where, When, Why and How formula to the information.

For example:

• Who is the source of the information? (The most important step is to understand who put the information online.)
• What are you getting? (Does the information seem biased in any way?)
• Where are you? (Deconstructing the Web address, or URL, will tell you a lot.)
• When was the site created? (You want the most current information.)
• Why are you there? (There may be better places to find the information; books for example.)
• How can you tell what’s what? (Double check the information with other sources.)

Intellectual Property: Key Concepts from MediaSmarts

Finding Trustworthy Websites from Common Sense Media

Evaluating Web Sites - This is a college-level tutorial from the libraries at The Ohio State University but it looks worthwhile if you have some time to put in.