Evaluating a website
CARS
C Credibility of a website – what are the author's qualifications on the subject?
Look for information about the author's education and experience.
Do you think the information will be correct?
A Accuracy – is the information you find factual, detailed and up to date?
R Reasonableness – does the web site present a balanced and consistent argument?
S Support – where does the information come from? Does the information contain sources?
TIP: Compare three sites / sources = Triangulation
http://schoollibswaikatobop.wikispaces.com/Evaluating+Websites
Using Domain names
Domain names are the identification name given to define a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet, based on the Domain Name System (DNS). The ending of a domain name can tell you certain information. Here is a rough guide
.edu or.ac Educational site (University and college)
.school A school's site
.co or .com Commercial business site
.gov U.S. non-military government site
.govt New Zealand government site
.mil U.S. military site
.net Networks and internet provider
.org Non-profit organisations
NB
1. You can generally expect the information on .gov and .mil sites to be accurate
2. The information on .edu sites is generally accurate. However, if an .edu site also has a tilde symbol (~) in the address, it is a personal page and needs further evaluation. School sites publish student work which may not be accurate
3. Sites with domains of .net, .com and .org also require more evaluation
Refining your key words and key phrases
Searching on Google or other search engines be aware that
1. Use of capitals can limit search depending on the search engine
2. Use of more than one word to refine results
3. Quotation marks find the exact words and phrases
4. Adding a space before or after your keyword can help narrow the search and eliminate unwanted words
5. Searches can be narrowed to NZ sites by clicking on "pages form New Zealand" i.e. when searching using Google
6. Search using images or maps or PowerPoint's (.ppt)
7. Narrowing Google searches to sites suitable for children by adding the word "kids" at the end or "K – 12" or "K – 6" or "K – 3"
website and learning management system.