It takes an experienced web designer only a few minutes to post information to a web site.  Often, sites are put up "just for fun." Some of these violate copyright law and include misinformation.  We, as teachers, must be aware of the possibilities of bogus sites and plan our lessons around only those we find completely reliable.  We should also teach our students to evaluate sites for reliability.

Activity

Using the resources below:

1. List at least five things that indicate that a website is reliable. 

2. List at least five "red flags" that should caution you about the quality of a website. 

3. Evaluate at least 3 sites listed in Kathy Schrock's guide according to your first list.

          Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see her list of sites to practice your evaluation skills.

Later, when you're browsing the categories of educational websites, be sure to bookmark(favorites) the sites you find particularly interesting.

Related Online Resources

	The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: or Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html
	Virtual Salt Evaluation Guidelines  http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
	Kathy Schrock's Critical Evaluation Information discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/eval.html
	Milner Library Evaluating Internet Resources www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/subject/intrnt/evaluate.htm
	Dalhousie University Libraries checklist http://www.library.dal.ca/how/check2.htm
	A good place  to use for teaching students to evaluate eRumors: http://www.truthorfiction.com/