The Web: Facts or Opinions?

A WebQuest for 8th Grade (Literacy)

Modified from this WebQuest by Olga LaPlante

olaplante@mainelearns.org

holding the truth

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page

Introduction

If you are like most students, you are relying heavily on resources from the Web for your research. Not all Web resources are created equal. If fact, there are great variations in the quality of the resources you access. The rule of thumb is "when in doubt, doubt." When you carefully select your resources, when you understand their strengths and limits, you create better products.

crossed fingers

Task

You will be working in groups of three to evaluate a group of Web pages on the topic of tobacco and smoking, or VELCRO. Each of you will be examining sites from a different perspective. You will be ranking the sites and comparing your rankings with the rest of the class.

You are expected to come up with a list of tips on what clues help you evaluate the resources to share with the rest of the students on think.com.

Process

  1. In your group of three, you will select one topic, Smoking or VELCRO.
  2. Divide the roles and check off your role on the worksheet. Use this worksheet to write down your notes.
    3. 1. Content specialist:
    • Does the site cover the topic comprehensively? Accurately?
    • Can you understand what is being said? Is it written above or below your level of understanding?
    • What is unique about this site? Does it offer something others do not?
    • Are the links well-chosen? sufficient?
    • Currency: Can you tell: the date the information was created? the publication date? the date the material was last revised? Are these dates meaningful in terms of the subject matter?
    • Would you get better information in a book? an encyclopedia?
    • Would you include this site in your bibliography?
    		 2. Authority/Credibility specialist:
    • Who is responsible for this site? Who sponsors it? Hint: truncate each section of the URL back until you are able to find the sponsor.
    • What are his/her credentials?
    • Have the authors of the site cited their own sources? Are the sources documented appropriately?
    • What is the domain name? Does it end in .com, .gov, .edu, .org, .net? Is it a personal page?
    • Is that a meaningful clue in evaluating the site? (You can't always judge a web page by its suffix. Some commercial sites provide solid information. Some university sites offer less-than-serious personal pages to graduate students.)
    • Who else links to the site? (You can perform a link check in AltaVista or Google by entering "link:webaddress" in the search box. Is it linked to by reliable sites? What do other sites say about this one?
    • Would you include this site in your bibliography?
    3. Bias/purpose specialist:
    • Why was this site created? (to persuade, inform, explain, sell, promote, parody, other?)
    • Is it a personal, commercial, government or organization site?
    • Is there any bias? Is only one side of the argument presented? Does it appear that any information is purposely omitted? Is there a hidden message? Is it trying to persuade you or change your opinion? Is the bias useful to you in some way?
    • Can you distinguish facts from opinion?
    • Would you include this site in your bibliography?
  3. Individually, look up the web sites below to evaluate them from the perspective of your role. Spend no more than 3-4 minutes on each web site. Your teacher will help you keep track of time.
    4.   Time spent so far:
  4. Share your opinion/findings with your group. As a group, decide on the final ranking list.
  5. Come up with a few tips that helped you identify reliable information.

Smoking and tobacco sites:

VELCRO sites:

Evaluation

You will be evaluated on your group work, your completed organizer, and your participation in large group discussion using this rubric. Make sure your group is able to defend its choices in the discussion ranking the sites.

Post your findings on the think.com project page.

Conclusion

Congratulations! Now you can consider yourselves to be seasoned web researchers. Please share your list of tips with your classmates by posting it on the think.com project page, and refer to it frequently!

Credits & References

The original webquest can be found at http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~spjvweb/evalwebstu.html

Please click on the images to view them in the original context.

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL.

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