Popular answers include 1 September 1939, when German

1
Critical Thinking and the Wider Web

• Unit 1
• Checking Facts and
• Gathering Opinions

2
On what date did World War II start?

• Find three websites that provide an answer
• Fill in the boxes on the worksheet for each of
  them
• Comment on any notable features of the sites or
  answers you discover

3
On what date did World War II start?

• The answer depends on how one interprets the
  question
• What constitutes the true beginning of a war?
• Whose perspective are we considering events from?

4
On what date did World War II start?

• Popular answers include 1 September 1939, when
  Germany invaded Poland, and 3 September 1939,
  when Britain and France declared war on Germany

5
On what date did World War II start?

• However, there are arguments for both earlier and
  later dates
• Hostilities in Asia began earlier in the 1930s
• Some argue it wasnt a true world war until the
  USA became involved in 1941

6
Extract from U-S-History.com
Extract from Wikipedia article on World War II

• http//www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1661.html and
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIChronolo
  gy Retrieved 7 August 2008

7
Wikipedia article notes

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIReferenc
  es Retrieved 7 August 2008

8
Wikipedia article notes

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIReferenc
  es Retrieved 7 August 2008

9
On what date did World War II start?

• Searches for phrases like World War II start
  date or When did World War II start? bring up
  a range of results
• Question and answer sites
• Essays and overviews

10
Results of Google search for When did World War
II start?

• http//www.google.co.uk/
  Retrieved 7 August 2008

11
A Yahoo! Answers page

• http//answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid200606
  20173709AA7G8pe Retrieved 5 June 2008

12
On what date did World War II start?

• However, notice that a search like this produces
  a high proportion of non-scholarly results
• QA sites give a range of answers but some of
  those answers are wrong!
• See, for example, this WikiAnswers page
• A lot of sifting and evaluation is required

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WikiAnswers the second hit for the Google search
World War II start date

• http//wiki.answers.com/Q/What_exact_time_and_date
  _did_world_war_2_start Retrieved 4 June 2008

14
WikiAnswers the second hit for the Google search
World War II start date

• http//wiki.answers.com/Q/What_exact_time_and_date
  _did_world_war_2_start Retrieved 4 June 2008

15
On what date did World War II start?

• Because theres no clear single answer, more
  scholarly sites may not specify a start date
• Therefore they may not show up in a search using
  this phrase
• Careful choice of search terms is vital

16
On what date did World War II start?

• Searching for a phrase like World War II
  timeline produces a rather different set of
  results
• More sites devoted to history
• More sites intended for academic use
• But not all sites are equal theres still a
  need for careful selection

17
Results of Google search for World War II
timeline

• http//www.google.co.uk/
  Retrieved 7 August 2008

18
Extract from BBC History website

• http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ww2_s
  ummary_01.shtml Retrieved 7
  August 2008

19
Summary - key things to note

• Sometimes its necessary to discover part of the
  answer to enable effective searching for the rest
• The nature of some sites may make them more prone
  to error

20
Why might we find conflicting answers to a
question?

• There may be real uncertainty about the answer
• Authorities may disagree
• There may be multiple ways of interpreting a
  question

21
Why might we find conflicting answers to a
question?

• Some sources may be more up to date than others
• Answers may vary in precision
• Some sources may simply be wrong

22
Questions to ask when assessing sources

• Who is the author?
• An individual or an institution?
• What are the authors credentials?
• Is this a scholarly resource, or a more informal
  one?
• How up to date is this source?

23
Questions to ask when assessing sources

• Are there reasons to doubt the reliability of
  this source?
• Does it include information I know to be false?
• Does it contradict itself or use poor reasoning?
• Is it biased towards a particular view?

24
Questions to ask when assessing sources

• Is the information provided confirmed by other
  sources?
• Are references provided?
• Do other websites agree? (A major advantage of
  the Web is that many sources can be compared
  quickly and easily.)

25
Remember the three Ws

• WHO wrote this site?
• Is the author a trustworthy source?
• WHEN was it written?
• Is it up to date?
• WHY was it written?
• Does the author have an axe to grind?