When students conduct research using the Internet, it is important that they know how to evaluate the material they find on the Web. Students often assume that what they find on the Web is factual, yet every site has a point of view and information varies in quality.
To help your students determine if a site has usable and reliable information, you might want them to practice evaluating their resources by using the form below. You might also want to discuss the types of answers that would indicate whether the site is a reliable source of information. For younger students, you might want to conduct the research yourself and create a Web site or folder that has links to the pages that you want them to use.
Based on a master's program course offered online by the University of Illinois regarding how new information and communication technologies are changing schools today. Includes discussion about why we need to evaluate Web information, methods of evaluation, teaching Web evaluation, and bibliographies that contain links to other informative sites.
"A toolbox of criteria that enables Internet information sources to be evaluated for use in libraries, such as inclusion in resource guides, and helping users evaluate information found." Created by Alastair Smith, VUW Department of Library and Information Studies, New Zealand. Includes sections on evaluating the scope of the site, content, graphic and multimedia design, purpose, workability, and cost (are Internet resources really "free"?).
Kathy Schrock has designed a series of evaluation surveys, one each for elementary, middle, and secondary school levels, to help your students evaluate the Web sites they find.
