Fake+News

**Website Evaluation** **Compiled by Mrs. Gruenthal, Library Media Teacher** "Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly." -Roger Ebert

**Why should you evaluate webpages?** Anyone with a computer can put up a webpage. You do not know who they are, or if they are qualified to talk about the subject you are researching. Before you use a website, look to see who is sponsoring the page. If you can't figure out who has produced it, don't use it.

Website Evaluation Video

Use this form to evaluate 5 websites. Look for at least one detail that gives the site credibility and one detail that discredits the source.
 * Assignment:**

**Hoax Sites:** Jennifer Anniston Makeover Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide Bureau of Sasquatch Affairs Do Cats always land on their feet? Dog Island The Jackelope Conspiracy Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency The First Page of the Internet <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Improbable Research <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The Ova Prima Foundation <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">California's Velcro Crop Under Challenge <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">This Page Intentionally Left Blank <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Mankato, Minnesota <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Moonbeam interprises <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">NinjaBurger <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Republic of Cascadia <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sasquatch Militia <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Scary Sites (By "scary" I mean really misleading if used for a report):** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">All about Explorers <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Dihydrogen Monoxide <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Institute for Historical Review <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jacopo di Poggibonsi

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Summary of The CARS Checklist for Research Source Evaluation** Use this form to evaluate the websites for your research assignment

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Credibility** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">trustworthy source, author’s credentials, evidence of quality control, known or respected authority, organizational support. Goal: an authoritative source, a source that supplies some good evidence that allows you to trust it.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Accuracy** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">up to date, factual, detailed, exact, comprehensive, audience and purpose reflect intentions of completeness and accuracy. Goal: a source that is correct today (not yesterday), a source that gives the whole truth.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Reasonableness** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">fair, balanced, objective, reasoned, no conflict of interest, absence of fallacies or slanted tone. Goal: a source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably, concerned with the truth.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**Support** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">listed sources, contact information, available corroboration, claims supported, documentation supplied. Goal: a source that provides convincing evidence for the claims made, a source you can triangulate (find at least two other sources that support it).

http://factitious.augamestudio.com/#/
 * Play Game:**

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**More on Website Evaluation:** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Evaluating Web Pages UC Berkeley <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Internet Detective Museum of Hoaxes <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Online Safetey Tips <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Media Awareness Network Test your Website judgement with this interactive tutorial. Ten Questions for Fake News Detection

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Bottom Line: Is the web page as good (or better than) what you could find in journal articles or other published literature that is not on the free, general web?

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Snopes] is that e-mail a hoax? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Truth or Fiction.com <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Urban Legends About.com Source Watch
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Fact Checking Sites **

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Online form for Evaluating Websites: 21st Century Information Fluency <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Kathy Schrock's Guide <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">McDougal Littel Class Zone <span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">PBL Fake News Lesson
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Resources: **