{"id":53,"date":"2017-06-21T13:50:42","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T13:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2023-02-08T15:59:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T15:59:21","slug":"evaluation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/computerlit\/evaluation\/","title":{"rendered":"Elements of Website Evaluation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Audience<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Start by asking: what\u2019s my information \u201cneighborhood\u201d? Am I looking for scholarly sources, opinions, personal information\u2026 or something else? The following criteria are the sorts of things to consider when you are evaluating information for a school research project.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Authority<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>What are the author\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/show\/churchill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">credentials<\/a>? Know when credentials matter.<\/li>\n<li>Is the source known and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.noaa.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">respected<\/a>? Is there any way to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sciencenews.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contact<\/a>\u00a0the source?<\/li>\n<li>Are there \u201cback door\u201d ways of determining authority, like\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Born-Chinese-Gene-Luen\/dp\/1596431520\/sr=1-1\/qid=1163780974\/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1\/002-6246669-9940831?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reviewer ratings<\/a>? Can you trust these?<\/li>\n<li>Does a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sourceid=navclient&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-29,GGLD:en&amp;q=%22martin+luther+king%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">high ranking<\/a>\u00a0on search engine results mean a source is authoritative?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Accuracy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Can the information be\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Main_Page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">corroborated<\/a>? In other words, can you confirm the information in another source?<\/li>\n<li>Does the information need to be\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">current<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>Is the information documented, either\u00a0<a title=\"Planet Math\" href=\"http:\/\/planetmath.org\/cyclicring\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">directly<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/cosmicvariance\/2012\/08\/31\/animal-consciousness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">indirectly<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>Is the information presented with integrity? (i.e., no\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.edrants.com\/the-cooks-source-scandal-how-a-magazine-profits-on-theft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">copyright violations<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tineye.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fabrications<\/a>, and other\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/ten-famous-intellectual-property-disputes-18521880\/?no-ist=&amp;page=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">misuses<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ksl.com\/?nid=148&amp;sid=17940275&amp;title=layton-family-surprised-by-their-photo-in-display-at-ikea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">intellectual property<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Balanced Treatment<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Be able to spot point of view<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is the site\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicagenda.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fair and objective<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li>Is it an\u00a0<a title=\"Bike League\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bikeleague.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">advocacy site<\/a>? Advocacy sites promote the interests of an organization, a cause, or a point-of-view, and are biased by definition.<\/li>\n<li>Is there a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com\/nutrition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">conflict of interest<\/a>? Does the website producer stand to benefit from the information being provided?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How important is balance? Is it required for your purposes?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do hobbyists\u2019 sites, \u201cfun\u201d sites, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ama-assn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">advocacy<\/a>\u00a0sites need to be unbiased?<\/li>\n<li>Is bias necessarily a bad thing?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Sample Persuasion Techniques<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Calling on a higher authority (e.g., religion, government,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rdQrwBVRzEg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">celebrity<\/a>, the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.colgate.com\/en\/us\/oc\/oral-health\/basics\/selecting-dental-products\/article\/five-types-of-dentist-recommended-toothpaste-0714\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">medical profession<\/a>, etc.) to justify a position<\/li>\n<li>Using the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.proactiv.com\/en_us\/success-stories.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plain folks<\/a>\u201d technique (\u201cWe are just like everyone else\u201d) to elicit sympathy and understanding<\/li>\n<li>Employing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tfes.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pseudoscience<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; using\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.trysensa.com\/clinical-study.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">scientific<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/nutritionunplugged.com\/2009\/09\/sensa-smells-fishy-to-me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sounding<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.braingym.org\/studies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">references<\/a>\u00a0or data to justify a position, make an argument, or sell a product.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cCo-opting\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adl.org\/resources\/hate-symbols\/search\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">symbols\u00a0<\/a>and traditions to use in other contexts<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180114064520\/http:\/\/martinlutherking.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cloaking<\/a>\u201d identity &#8212; acting like something you are not. Know how to conduct a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;rls=GGLD,GGLD%3A2004-29,GGLD%3Aen&amp;q=whois\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">domain name search<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Test yourself! What persuasion techniques are being used\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dhmo.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on this site<\/a>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Audience Start by asking: what\u2019s my information \u201cneighborhood\u201d? Am I looking for scholarly sources, opinions, personal information\u2026 or something else? The following criteria are the sorts of things to consider when you are evaluating information for a school research project. Authority What are the author\u2019s\u00a0credentials? Know when credentials matter. Is the source known and\u00a0respected? Is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"parent":32,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-53","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1100,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions\/1100"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/uni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}