searching for information on google or "Cuil"? Read with a critical (informed and questioning) eye....
ICYouSee
Guide to Critical Thinking
Consider the following five suggestions when examining Web pages:
Make sure you are in the right place.
Why are you using the
Web? Don't use the Web because it is fun and easy; use it when it is
the appropriate source for the information you are seeking. An hour
on the Web may not answer a question that you could find within two
minutes of picking up a reference book. (This is not to say there
aren't useful Web sources.)
The Web may have been originally
designed as a medium to exchange scientific (and military?) research
data, but it has become a commercial playground. The research is
still there, but it is harder to find, or no longer free, or not
easily accessible, or inaccessible.
When in doubt, doubt.
Because almost anyone can put up almost
anything on the Web, you must be especially careful as you examine
each site. Accuracy is not always easy to detect, so you must test
one source against another. Try to differentiate fact from opinion.
Look for ambiguity and manipulative reasoning and bias. Examine
assumptions, including and perhaps especially, your own.
Who
coined the phrase "Question authority!"? Two different Web
sites provide two different answers. One site, which has since
disappeared with no forwarding address, attributed the quote to Tim
Leary [sic]. Tofa's Quote Collection attributes it to J. Baldwen
[sic]. My advice: question the authority of both these sources.
Consider the source.
Who are the authors of the Web page? What
gives them their expertise? By what authority do they write? Have
the authors indicated their research methods or provided any
supportive evidence for their conclusions? Have they provided you a
means to contact them? Check the URL to see if the domain name
includes;
.com (commercial),
.gov
(governmental),
.org (non-profit organization ),
.net
(network),
.edu (educational),
or a two letter code
(country of origin)
It will give you a good clue about the
Web page's author or source. You can't judge a Web site just by its
code, however. Not all commercial sites will try to sell you
something, but they warrant a different kind of scrutiny than those
at a governmental site. Pages found on educational or non-profit
organization Web servers can be extraordinarily diverse. Non-profits
can be professional associations or seditious societies or silly
groups. Educational Web sites range from forums for sophomoric humor
to clearinghouses for cutting edge articles on post-partum particle
physics (OK, I made that last one up. Who can you trust? And who is
the author of this page, anyway?).
Know what's happening.
Identify the purpose of the Web Page.
Is the main purpose to inform, to persuade, or to sell you
something? If you know the motive behind the page's creation, you
can better judge its content.
For example, an online movie
review should be judged on the same merit as a review in the daily
newspaper.
Make sure what you are looking at is:
However, what you will more likely to find on the Web is
Look at details.
Although great ideas and great Web design are
not necessarily linked, internal clues can tell you much about a Web
page. Check for the obvious things, such as good grammar and correct
spelling. Note the depth of the material presented. When was the Web
item last revised, and how up-to-date are the links? What kind of
sources are linked? Are the links evaluated or annotated in any way?
Graphics may be great, but do they serve any purpose other than
decoration? Just as a magazine with many color advertisements may
have a different purpose than a scholarly journal with no
illustrations, a Web site with mirthful color and slickness may not
be primarily a research site.
Homework
Media Assignment
Using the topic of Water Conservation or Canadian Confederation take some time to
analyze the three links.
Evaluate three sites, write point form notes to answer each of the following questions.
Does this site address the specific topic?
What is the purpose of the site? Who is responsible for the site?
Does it tell you anything more than you could find out in an encyclopaedia?
Is the source of the site authoritative, or is the site of dubious value for research
purposes?
Writing Assignment:
Write a persuasive paragraph(s) that gives your opinion about which site you think is
the best of the three you looked at and explain why.
Use the five questions to consider above as the starting point as proof for your argument for one particular site.
Remember one idea or thought is in one
paragraph.If you change your thought, you must start a new paragraph.
This is called cohesion.
Use the sheet for your rough notes.
Write a rough copy paragraph. Edit your work with a classmate. Then write a
good copy paragraph. Hand in.
Use the following structure:
Topic
sentence (answer which site you think is best)
Detail sentences (give reasons with evidence/proof to support your
opinion/argument)
Conclusion
sentence (finish your paragraph / close your thought)
Use and include the proper citing of a web page with your paragraph(s).
WORLD WIDE WEB Structure: Author or originator. Title of item. [Online] Date of document or download (day, month, year). URL .
Example: Classroom Connection. "How to cite resources." [Online] 11 September, 2008. http://www.classroom.com/community/connection/howto/citeresources.jhtml
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