HOMEWORK due 10-27 - Article about On-Line reading and research

After reading the article, I will be more clear and more specific about how my students should search the web for information.

In the future when I have students do research on-line, I will first discuss certain tools for narrowing their search and validating their search results (as we have learned in this class). If appropriate for the assignment, I will strongly suggest certain types of sites to use that are reliable. These would include library sites, on-line news (either through sites like ABCnews.com and sites like Yahoonews), Library of Congress and sites with a reliable extensions like .gov or .edu. Then I will have them fill out a simple questionnaire to help them determine if their website is valid.

This questionnaire will ask students to:

1. Search their topic several different ways to see if they get the same results (using symbols to narrow their search, changing word order and then searching again to see if they get the same results. They will write down how many hits they got for each search and their different searches.

2. Write down exactly what they searched when they finally got the results they were looking for and also have them bookmark their site so they can get back to it easily.

3. Identify the author, look up the author on line and write down some details about the author.

4. Identify the domain and write it down on the questionnaire.

5. Click on links from the site they found, read through them and write down information as to where these links go and write down why they think these links are credible.

6. Students will then write down several pieces of information they found and write down if these pieces of information make sense in relationship to what they thought they would get.