Web Evaluation...Who, What, When, Where, Why?

Who? Who is responsible for the information on this website? What authority do they have on the topic? Are they credible? How can you tell?  Look to see if there is a link to explore for more information, or to contact the person in charge of the website. Can you email them with your questions? Check the url. Does it end with .com/.edu/.gov/.org? What do those tell you about who created the site? Truncate the url and you will be led to the main source of the information. 

Go to http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/   Who is responsible for the information on this website?  Truncate so the url looks like this http://zapatopi.net 

What? What is the purpose of the website? Was it created to inform? To sell you something? To make you think in a certain way? What type of site is it? Is it a static site, a blog, a wiki? Look at Wallach Online . What can you tell about the purpose of the site?

When? When was the last time the website was updated? Is there any way to tell? Look for a date, usually at the bottom of the page.

Where? Where does it take you? Does the site provide a bibliography or links to explore for further research? Where do those links take you? Do all the links work?

Why? Why was this website created? Is it fact or opinion? Is there bias present? Look for words like claim, supposed, clearly, naturally that might introduce bias. See this website about immigration for an example. 

Sometimes, it is easy to tell that what you are looking at is fake.  Take the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, for example.

Sometimes, it is a bit more tricky. Look at these websites on Jacopo di Poggibonsi and All About Explorers Take some time to explore the who, what, when, where, and why. What can you tell about these websites?

World War II Examples

Which choice would be the BEST for research purposes? Why?

wwiivehicles.com

Women in World War II

World War II in Europe

The Message 

Start with sources that you know you can trust like Destiny Quest and ABC-CLIO. Take your time when exploring new web sites. Read beyond the first few sentances. Make an informed decision.