Validating Information on the Internet

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Validating Information on the Internet
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Validating information on the Web is one of the
most essential skills for students today.
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Get REAL 4 Steps to Validating Information

• R Read the URL
• E Examine the Content
• A Ask about the Author and Owner
• L Look at the Links

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R Read the URL
Go to http//www.bigredhair.com/robots/index.html

Did you know robots dated back to the Victorian
age? Have a close look at the domain name of
this URL (Web address) A domain name is always
right after the http// and www up to the
first forward slash / The domain name tells
you who published the site. What is the domain
name of this site?
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Get to the HomepageHow to Truncate a URL

• When in doubt of the quality of information on a
  site, look at its homepage. The homepage is
  generally the domain name in its simplest form.
• To get to the homepage of a site, you may need to
  truncate.
• To truncate, remove the text from right to left
  until you reach the domain name (up to the first
  forward slash)
• http//www.bigredhair.com/robots/index.html
• In this case, delete /robots/index.html until
  you are left with
• http//www.bigredhair.com

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Get to Know Extensions
Every domain name contains an
extension. These tiny bits of information are
important - they show the type of establishment
that owns the domain. Common Extensions
.k12 - Most schools in the US
.org - Any organization
.edu - Educational organization (most US
colleges)
.gov - Government agency .ac - Academic
institution (outside of US)
.com
Company Might information from one extension be
more reliable than information from another? Why?
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E Examine the Content

• Questions to consider..
• Is the information on the website useful?
• 2. Are additional resources and links provided?
• 3. Is the site current? Do you know when it was
  last updated?
• 4. Do you think the information is accurate?
• 5. Is information supported by other
  information sources?

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A Ask About the Author and Owner

• Questions to consider
• Is the authors name provided?
• 2. Is there a contact person or an email address
  provided?
• 3. Is there biographical information provided
  about the author?
• 4. Does the author seem knowledgeable? Is he or
  she an expert?

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Find the Owner of a Site
Go to http//www.easywhois.com
Enter the domain name of the site you are
researching and Voila! You will see the contact
information of who owns the site. The website
owner is often the author of a site. If you are
unsure of the author, check for owner
information. Note! It is possible to hide owner
information through a 3rd party.
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L Look at the Links
Consider this Forward links What other
sites does the author link to? External links
Who is linking into the site in question? Who
thinks the site you are looking at contains
valuable information?
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Forward Links
Forward links are deliberately put on a site by
an author for a specific purpose. What might that
purpose be? Do the links lead to other sites
with biased, false or quality info? Consider
What are the URLs of the forward links?
Do the domain names change? Is the
information provided biased?
How might these questions determine a sites
validity?
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External Links
External links are not controlled by an author
they are links made to a site by someone else.
External links are invisible. Anyone in the
world can create a link to a site from an
external source. Why examine them? To find
out. Who is linking to a site Why they are
linking What they are saying about the material
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How to find External Links

• Go to http//www.altavista.com
• Enter link in the search box
• Add the URL of the website
• Click FIND
• Example
• linkwww.novemberlearning.com

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Assignment
Compare and Contrast http//martinlutherking.o
rg and http//thekingcenter.org/
To evaluate, use the REAL process

• R Read the URL
• E Examine the Content
• A Ask about the author and owner
• L Look at the links