SIRS Discoverer ® on the Web
Copyright © 2010 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.
Read
(Vol. 59, No. 3)
Oct 2, 2009, pp. 30-31
Copyright © Weekly Reader Corporation. Oct 2, 2009. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Truth in Research
By Craig Nadler
• How to find the facts you need online
You've just been assigned a research project. You have the deadline and the topic. What's next? That's right--the research! Although it may seem daunting at first, thorough investigation into a topic can make or break your project. In the 21st century, we often head straight to the computer to begin our research online, where there are literally millions of places to cruise to for information. But while the Internet provides a fast and easy medium through which to gather data, you should always use caution when maneuvering along the electronic information superhighway. Anyone can publish a Web page, and there's no one policing cyberspace to verify that the content is the truth.
Take time to examine each site with care. Remember that Web pages are susceptible to change, and they can move or disappear without warning. Print out any pages that contribute to your research in order to ensure that your bibliography is complete and accurate.[Printing pages is not recommended while you're doing your research for your Celebrity Webquest. Instead, carefully save the URL, create your citation, and take careful notes.] You can also call on the help of librarians, who can guide you to trusted research sites.
Stop #1 Stop reading and notice what your mind has been doing as you read. Has it been paying attention or wandering? Were you using any strategies to focus or to help yourself understand? Be honest. Minds wander. It will help you if you can notice what's going on in your own thinking. Write down a couple of sentences about what was going on in your mind as you read the first part. Do the same for the other three parts of this article.
I recently came across an article on the Web that claimed a man named John Hanson was the first president of the United States. Hanson had been the first president of Congress in 1781, but could he really be considered the first president of the United States? I thought, "I really need to check out this source?" I used an online research checklist to analyze the credibility of the article. I looked beyond the text to see whether the site's information was reliable. Here's what I discovered.
Content with the content?
As I read the article that defended John Hanson as the first president of the United States, I kept an eye out for citations or hyperlinks in the text that supported the information provided. There were none. I also took note of opinion words, such as definitely, which took away from the serious tone of the article: "George Washington was definitely not the first President of the United States."
Who has the right to write?
After reading the article, I scanned the page for the author's name. The piece was an excerpt from a book. This excerpt's Web site was not controlled by George Grant, who penned the original piece the site referenced. I knew I had to be careful because I didn't have the original source in front of me.
Stop #2
Purpose shmurpose
The Web site--www.marshallhall.org--where I found the article was "[dedicated to the Preservation and Restoration of Historic Marshall Hall in Charles County, Maryland." What exactly does that have to do with the first president of the United States? It didn't seem that my goal matched the site's goal. I needed to rethink its reliability.
Who's in charge?
I could not find any contact information for the Web site's director, a mysterious Peggy Marshall. No information about her life or credentials is provided!
Link me where?
I checked out the provided links, but none of them steered me toward information about the identity of the first president. They were either dead or irrelevant to my topic.
After some online digging, it was clear that this site was not a reliable source of information. It failed too many points on the checklist. I wasn't going to trust this source.
Stop #3
Vocab
SUSCEPTIBLE: subject to some influenceCREDENTIALS: evidence of authority or status
Check a Web Site's Credibility
• AUTHOR: Search for the author's name somewhere on the Web site. Look for a link to his or her home page. Maybe you can find a biography or a list of credentials.• PURPOSE: Find the goals of the site or the motives behind its creation.
• ACCURACY: Try to verify the material on the page, either with your own knowledge or with alternate sources. Look for primary sources--letters, records, or other documents created during the period that is being studied. Also, check the site for grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors.
• OBJECTIVITY: Try to find the author's point of view, and determine whether the Web site is fact (supported by other sources) or opinion (uses emotion-rousing words).
• CURRENTNESS: Find out when the page was last updated to ensure that its material is current.
• LINKS: Check out the links provided to see whether they are current and relevant to your research.
Stop #4
No comments:
Post a Comment