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Web Evaluation Teaching Examples: (CTL+ Click on the ToC to go directly to the
example you want)
Contents
Controversial issues: ....................................................................................................... 2
Google media and body image .................................................................................... 2
Google animal experimentation ................................................................................... 2
Google teenage pregnancy statistics ........................................................................... 3
Reliable Business Information ......................................................................................... 4
Google walmart vision statement. ................................................................................ 4
Google marketing strategy walmart. ............................................................................ 4
Laws and Legislation ....................................................................................................... 4
Google youth and child act .......................................................................................... 4
Google Canadian constitution ...................................................................................... 5
Psychology Themes ........................................................................................................ 5
Google sigmund freud ................................................................................................. 5
Google carl rogers ....................................................................................................... 5
Google Stanford Prison Experiment ............................................................................. 6
But it looks reliable... ....................................................................................................... 6
Google useful maps site:.gov.bc.ca ............................................................................. 6
Go to http://www.pantheon.org ................................................................................... 6
Google john keats. ....................................................................................................... 7
Google “Richard Clarke” biography .............................................................................. 7
Google diabetes Canada. (diabetes and history) ......................................................... 7
Google diabetes Canada. (diabetes Type 1) ................................................................ 8
Google shamanism. ..................................................................................................... 8
Google Scholar ............................................................................................................... 9
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Please consider the environment before printing out this document
Controversial issues:
Google media and body image
a. Choose “Beauty and Body Image in the Media”
http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.
cfm
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What, Where,
When
c. Show that there are journal articles named within this article but not cited in
the references.
d. Talk about importance of finding the academic sources that lie behind the
popular article.
e. Make note of the article mentioned in para. 4 “Appearance Culture in Nineto 12-Year-Old Girls: Media and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction” the
2006 study mentioned in the article.
f. Now Google “Appearance Culture in Nine- to 12-Year-Old Girls: Media and
Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction”
g. Look for the Ingenta link. Show the price being charged for the article
h. Point out the details for the article. Journal title, Vol, iss
i. Go to Kwantlen Journals List
j. Search “Social Development”
k. Browse year, vol, issue, and show that the whole article is available for free.
Google animal experimentation
a. Choose “Animal Experimentation: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate
Motions” http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=7
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What, Where,
When
Who: Thomas Dixon
What: Pro/Con list of animal experimentation
When: Created: June 28, 2000 Last Modified: April 07, 2009
c. Google Dr. Thomas Dixon
d. Click on the link Dr Thomas Dixon, Queen Mary, University of London
http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/dixont.html
e. This site proves that the man is who he says he is.
f. Ask the class: Would you use this site?
g. Now google animal experimentation site:.edu
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
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h. Choose the link Animal Experimentation: the Legacy of Claude Bernard"
http://www.hughlafollette.com/papers/bernard.htm
i. Scan through the document with the class
j. Comparing the two sites which one would your instructor prefer you to use?
k. Why?
l. The answer you are looking for or may have to give the class is the second
site is more useful because it gives academic citations, was published in a
reputable journal and is more than an opinion piece.
m. The first example, though it seems perfect, does not give any evidence of its
argument and therefore is mainly an opinion piece.
Google teenage pregnancy statistics
a. Choose “BestSite: Statistics Teen pregnancy”
http://www.pregnancy-info.net/teen_pregnancy_statistics.html
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What, Where,
When,:
1. “ who wrote it?” don’t know
2. “ When are the statistics from?” 1992 – 2000
3. “ Where did they get the statistics?” don’t know
4. “Are they good enough?” no because they are already 10
years old and we don’t know who or how the statistics were
gathered
c. Now Google Teenage pregnancy statistics site:gc.ca
d. Discuss limiting to reliable Canadian statistics by limiting the search to the
Canadian government site.
e. Choose “Teenage pregnancy by Heather Dryburgh”
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/kits-trousses/preg-gross/preg-gross-eng.htm
f. Ask questions: “ who wrote it?” Heather Dryburgh
1. “ When are the statistics from?” 1974 – 1997
2. “ Where did they get the statistics? Canadian Vital Statistics
Data Base
3. “Are they good enough?” They are better than the first site but
they are still old.
g. Discuss why site 2 is more reliable that site 1 but the need for more current
information
h. Now click on Stat Can home >Browse by subject>Population and
demography>Births and Deaths>Publications>Births>
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/84f0210x/84f0210x2007000-eng.pdf
i. Show that the publication is current 2007 and you can see the births by age
of mother. (pg 23 of pdf)
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Please consider the environment before printing out this document
Reliable Business Information
Google walmart vision statement.
a. Choose Wiki answers link
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What, Where,
When
c. Then look at all the other hits in the list
d. Discuss what to look for as you look at all the results.
A reliable web address. with walmart as part of the address.
e. Choose the site walmartstores.com/pressroom/news/6093.aspx
f. Scan the article and point out how google is just finding the words vision
and statement but not the “meaning,” not the vision statement
g. Show the class that the article takes you to the Wal-mart corporate site.
h. Click on investors.>FAQs and then down near the end is a question about
what is Walmart’s Mission statement.
i. Ask class: Is this good enough? Does it take you closer to what you want?
j. Is this site more reliable than wikianswers?
Google marketing strategy walmart.
a. Look at the results
b. Discuss whether they are any good
c. Go to Business Source Premier
d. Search Marketing strategy and wal-mart
e. Ask the class if the results seem better.
f. Ask which search is a better use of time? Googling or using a research
database.
Laws and Legislation
Google youth and child act
a. Choose “Children, youth and families act 2005”.
b. Take a look at the entries.
c. Ask class: Does it look reliable? Would you use it?
d. It says Victoria…does it mean Victoria BC?
e. Point out that the au is the url is Australia. It is not a Canadian law but an
Australian one.
f. Now google BC laws
g. Browse law titles:
youth justice act,
child youth and family advocacy act
h. Discuss reliability of this site.
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Please consider the environment before printing out this document
Google Canadian constitution
a. Look at Constitution Act - Search Canada's consolidated
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/index.html
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What, Where,
When
c. Now look at The Constitution Act, 1982 www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada
d. Compare the two
e. Ask which is most reliable?
Psychology Themes
Google sigmund freud
a. Choose Sigmund Freud - Life and Work http://www.freudfile.org/
b. Ask a student to time this process.
c. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What,
Where, When,:
d. Click on Theories
e. Click on any of the (from Peace.saumag.edu) links
f. Show that they are all broken.
g. Ask the student how long it took to do all these steps and did we find
anything out about Freud’s theories.
h. Ask the student timer to reset the time.
i. Now go the library catalogue
j. Search Sigmund Freud
k. Ask the student timer how long it took to find material on Sigmund
Freud’s theories.
l. Ask the class: which search is the most productive?
Google carl rogers
a. Choose the Google books hit: On becoming a person: a therapist's
view of psychotherapy - Google Books Result Carl R. Rogers
b. Scroll through the book. You get to see quite a lot and then near the
end it will stop showing you the text.
c. Ask students: If you want to see the whole book what do you do now?
d. Copy title into the library catalogue.
e. Choose title instead of words or phrase.
f. Hit enter
g. Show students they have access to the whole book in print via the
library.
h. Click on catalog record tab
i. Click on Carl Rogers name
j. Show how many other books the library has by Carl Rogers
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Please consider the environment before printing out this document
Google Stanford Prison Experiment
a. Choose The Stanford Prison Experiment: A Simulation Study of the ...
http://www.prisonexp.org/
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What,
Where, When
c. Basically because it is by Zimbardo himself, non-profit site this is a
reliable source.
But it looks reliable...
Google useful maps site:.gov.bc.ca
a. Choose link: BCMAL resources
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/resmgmt/maps/maplist.htm
b. Choose any of the temperature maps.
c. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What, Where,
When,:
“ who wrote it?” don’t know
“ When are the statistics from?” July / January but what year?
“ Where did they get the statistics/maps?” don’t know
“Are they good enough?” No because we don’t know who or
how the statistics were gathered
d. Now Google Environment Canada
e. Choose Historical weather link on the menu to the left
f. Click on Canadian Climate normals.
g. Discuss that the information is better from this site even though we
cannot create a map that looks as nice as the “useful maps” site
Go to http://www.pantheon.org
a. Click on the Arthurian Legends link in the main text
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions:
i. “ who wrote it?” Brian Edward Rise
ii. What is the author’s credentials and credibility?
c. Click on Information on the menu to the left
d. Under the heading General, click on contributors.
e. Brian Edward Rise has modified 87 entries but we still don’t know who he is.
f. Scroll down the list and show that a middle school has been responsible for
modifying content
1. Ask “Do you think your instructor would be impressed with you using this site
for your assignment?”
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Please consider the environment before printing out this document
Google john keats.
a. Choose http://www.john-keats.com/
b. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What, Where,
When,:
1. Who is the page author? Thilo von Pape
2. When was it last updated? 2000
c. Look at the about page and show that the person won awards…
d. Ask class: Would you use this page?
e. If yes ask why? (Because it looks like he is passionate about Keats and
why would he want to spread misinformation?)
f. Check for author’s credentials
g. Go to MLA bibliography
h. Discuss how the MLA bibliography is an important academic database so
you would expect to find publications there by von Pape.
i. Search the author’s name Thilo von Pape.
j. Ask “Do you think your instructor would be impressed with you using this
site for your assignment?”
k. Then Keats as Primary Subject Author and show students the resources
there.
Google “Richard Clarke” biography
a. Look at the Wikipedia hit and show class the references.
b. Discuss that news articles are often not considered credible as an
academic source
c. Return to search results
d. Now look at Richard Clarke http://www.notablebiographies.com/
e. Ask: Does this site look more reliable than Wikipedia?
f. Look at the references
g. Show that there is no way to see who created Encyclopedia of World
Biographies.
h. Ask the question again: Does this site look more reliable than
Wikipedia?
Probably not.
i. Now Google john a macdonald.
j. Choose the site that is from the dictionary of Canadian biography
k. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What,
Where, When
l. Show that this site is reliable even though it doesn’t look much
different (or looks equally hokey and unsophisticated) as the
Encyclopedia of World Biographies.
Google diabetes Canada. (diabetes and history)
a. Tell the class “I want information about diabetes and it’s history”
b. Look under the tab “diabetes and you”
c. Choose “ history of diabetes” from the drop down menu
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Please consider the environment before printing out this document
d. Ask questions the web evaluation criteria questions: Who, What,
Where, When
e. Go to the library catalogue
f. Search words or phrase: Diabetes and history
g. Find this title: Bittersweet : diabetes, insulin, and the transformation of
illness Author: Feudtner, John Christopher.
h. Ask class: “Which would be a more appropriate source? The book or
the website.
i. Discuss that looking at the website gives students some ideas of the
type of information they might want to find: Historical info, differences
between diabetes I and II.
j. Then they have to look at our databases and catalogue to see if they
can find reliable academic information about those ideas.
Google diabetes Canada. (diabetes Type 1)
a. Click on the tab “diabetes and you”
b. Ask class: What is the scientific name for Type I diabetes?
c. The document will not provide the answer.
d. Now to Research Databases:>CINAHL
e. Search in Diabetes type 1 (all in one box, which is more likely how a
student would enter the search)
f. Ask:What is the scientific name for Type I diabetes?
g. Now search the CINAHL database for diabetes mellitus…
Google shamanism.
a. Choose Shamanism:: Foundation for Shamanic Studies founded by
Michael Harner http://www.shamanism.org/
b. Ask about author’s credibility
c. Click on Michael Harner link
d. To check the credibility of Michael H’s statements try to find the books
and any journal articles he may have published
e. Scroll down to the end of the bio to find book titles
f. Then go the library catalogue to prove if what he claims is true.
g. Search author name harner
h. Show that we have the book Hallucinogens and shamanism
i. Note the publisher: OUP. Reliable publisher
j. Indicate that the book would be a better source to use than the site.
If you want, you could continue teaching by showing searches in a database
k.
l.
m.
n.
Go to JSTOR>Advanced Search
Search Harner, Michael as author
Show articles written by Harner and the age of them.
Click on “ Review: [untitled] Stan Wilk Medical Anthropology Newsletter,
Vol. 13, No. 2 (Feb., 1982), p. 22. “
o. Show class how the book review discusses Harner’s inability to be
scientific about what he is writing about…
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
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Please consider the environment before printing out this document
p. Ask the class: “Do you think your instructor would be impressed with you
using this site for your assignment?”
Or,
q. Return to the google search results
r. Look at the results and discuss how difficult it is to identify a reliable site.
s. Tell the class that in searches like these it is important to limit your search
to sites that are reliable.
t. Name organizations that may have articles about Shaman that will be
more reliable: UNESCO, UN
u. Google shamanism site:unseco.org
v. Click on shamanism - UNESDOC - UNESCO Documents and
Publications http://unesdoc.unesco.org/Ulis/cgibin/ulis.pl?database=&lin=1&ll=1&gp=1&look=default&sc1=1&sc2=1&nl=
1&req=2&ds=shamanism
w. At the bottom of the list, click on Eng beside “Clottes Jean”
x. Journal “Unesco Courier” will open
y. Go to page 24 for article about shaman and rock art.
Google Scholar
a. Ask the class how many people use Google Scholar as their first search
option.
b. Go to google scholar and google “conformity”
c. Take a look at the results and ask students if they think they look good?
d. Ask them if they are worried about how old all the articles seem to be. Do
they think that there are articles that are more current?
e. Show them that they can sort the results according to date.
f. Change date to 2010
g. Show results, notice that the articles are not so relevant.
h. Now go back to “anytime” ranking
i. Choose: Developmental changes in conformity to peers and parents
byTJ Berndt - Developmental Psychology, 1979 – Elsevier
j. Click on the link and see if the article opens.
k. Ask students what are they going to do now. Give up? Look for another
article? Change topics.
l. Show them how to find the article using the Kwantlen Journals list.
m. Developmental Psychology> PsycArticles> Vol 15(6), Nov, 1979 or
search within this publication.
n. Remind the class again about the age of the article
o. Using PsycArticles, search conformity
p. Notice all the current articles about conformity.
q. Discuss why Google didn’t find these articles…
Google doesn’t search all our subscription databases.
If you want click on “Scholar Preferences” to the right of the
search box and it shows that it is only searching Kwantlen
via Ingenta.
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Please consider the environment before printing out this document
Show the class all the databases we have that are not
Ingenta.
What is it?
A short exercise to help students recognize the differences between a website, a
journal article, and an electronic database.
a. Google "ethical code for animal experimentation." Use the quotation
marks
b. Choose CAAT: The Three R's: The Way Forward
c. Ask the class. Is “The Three R’s” a journal article or a website?
d. Answer: It’s an article.
e. How can we tell?
f. It says: Article reprinted from "Environmental Health Perspectives,"
August 1996, vol. 104, no. 8
g. Identify the name of the journal, vol issue details and article title.
h. Look at the site and say that the article has been published in a
journal and now is being republished on the website.
i. Identify the website: Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing.
j. Show the date, copyright contact details at the bottom of the page. All
indicators of a website.
k. Look at the article again. Show that it has an author, references,
journal title. All indicators of a journal article.
l. Ask the class if there is any detail missing from the journal article that
may be helpful for their citations?
m. There are no page numbers.
n. Now go to the Kwantlen Journals list
o. Search for Environmental Health Perspectives
p. Use the JSTOR link and find the article (August 1996, vol. 104, no. 8)
q. Open the article and show the page numbers
r. Discuss the differences between the journal article and the
reproduction on the webpage.
s. The problem about reproductions is that there can be mistakes. You
don’t know if the typist copied things correctly.
a. Just look at the beginning on the website the introduction is
three paragraphs. The print article just two.
b. This may look like a small error. Maybe not an error at all but
actually it shows a major problem with web results.
c. The typist has made editorial changes that the author did not.
d. Ask the class: Do you want your research and your essay
marks reliant on original scholarship or on the whims of a
website creator?
t. The moral of the story is find the original. Not the reproduction.
Created by Diane Cruickshank, Mirela Djokic, Allison Richardson, Coast Capital Savings Library,
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, B.C., Canada), Sept. 2010
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/