Evaluation of web sites for 4th and 5th graders

1. Evaluating
Web Sites
What is reliable?

2. How do I know if a site is reliable?
Look for these things . . .
1. Author?
2. Information accurate?
3. Bias?
4. Date?

3. Author
 Check at bottom of page for author, editor or “About us” link
 Is there an email address? (Of course, it could be fake!)
 Does the email work? Does author reply?
 Address? Phone?
 Is author named? Is it an expert?
 Is it a trusted organization?
 .gov is government
 .edu is educational
 .org is organization
 .com is commercial
 .net is network
Visit the following websites. Which one is the author probably reliable?
Moon Real Estate
NASA for Kids

4. Accurate Information?
 How do you know the author is an expert?
 Are there references and information about where the
content of the page came from?
 Government agencies and well-known companies are more
reliable than an individual
 Compare information from several sites to double-check
reliability
Visit the following websites. Which one is more likely to have
accurate information?
National Geographic Kids
Tree Octopus

5. Bias
 What is the purpose of the site?
 Buy a product?
 Convince you to agree with them?
 Do they want to make money?
Which of the following sites is non-biased?
Buy an Ancester
Geneology Services NC Library

6. Date
 Look for last update
 Statistics should be current
 Links should work
Visit the following sites. Which is probably the most accurate?
CIA
Google Technology