Lesson 5 Assignment
Due: November 21
NAME:
The point value for each
question is noted.
Total points for this assignment: 50 points
Please answer all of the questions below and email your completed assignment to
your instructor (either:
PLEASE NOTE: In this assignment, you
will evaluate a web page AND either a magazine or journal article OR a
book.
WEBSITE EVALUATION (REQUIRED)
Select the web page you found for
Assignment 4 that your instructor asked you to use for this assignment
and evaluate this page by providing information using the criteria and
guidelines below.
(Review the “Evaluating
Websites” section of the Lesson 5 reading and the tutorial, Evaluating
Internet Sites 101)
Your evaluation is your assessment of the usefulness and credibility of the page. Give evidence and examples to back up your answers. Do not merely give your general impressions.
1. Begin by providing the title of
the web page and the full URL (starting with: http://)
(1 point):
TITLE:
URL:
a. What is the domain type of the page?
(.com? .net? etc.) (1 point)
b. If it is a .com, is there advertising on the page or are there any products
being marketed on the page?
If so, describe what it is and whether you think it could affect the validity
of the content on the page. (1 point)
Questions
2-7 require you to discuss the six criteria for evaluating websites.
Be sure to answer each question thoroughly and provide support and evidence
for your statements.
Author
2. Name of the author and/or
organization responsible for writing the page. (If there is both an individual
author and an organization responsible for the page, please identify both.) If an organization is
responsible for
the website and is different from the author of the web page, also identify
that organization. (1 point):
a. Is the author part of, or affiliated with,
an institution or group? If so, is it an impartial group or a group
established to promote an idea or point of view? Please explain. If an organization is
responsible for
the website and is different from the author of the web page, also identify the nature and purpose of this
organization. Go to the home page for the website and look for a link such as “About
us” or “Who we are” that will link to a description of the
organization or website. (3 points)
b. What are the author’s QUALIFICATIONS or CREDENTIALS? (Identify where you found this information.) Why does or doesn’t this make him/her/they an expert? (3 points)
c. What can you discern about the CREDIBILITY or REPUTATION of the author or producer of the information? (3 points)
Audience
3. Who is this written for? Who is the intended audience? The general public? Those in a specific profession? Students?
Etc. Justify your answer with
specific evidence from the page. (4 points)
Scholarship
4.
Is this scholarly material?
Scholarly pages will usually provide clear documentation (i.e. citations
and bibliographies), in-depth discussion, and a formal writing style. Justify
your answer with specific evidence from the page. (5 points)
Bias
5.
Does the page show any signs of political, ideological, cultural, or
personal biases? Is the page trying to
sell you something or sway your opinion?
Justify your answer with specific evidence from the page. (5 points)
Currency
6. Is there a date on the page
that indicates when the page was written or updated? Is the content current or out of date? Are the links to older or current
information? Is currency not a crucial
factor for the topic covered by this page? Etc.
(5 points)
Links
7. Are the links taking you to good quality,
useful pages or to “not found” pages, irrelevant sites, or advertisements?
Justify your answer with specific evidence.
(5 points)
ARTICLE OR BOOK EVALUATION: GENERAL DIRECTIONS
Select one magazine or journal article OR one book on your research topic. (You
may choose one you found in a previous assignment or you may choose another
article or book you have found that is on your research topic.)
Find the following information that would help you evaluate the article OR
the book:
-
For
evaluating a magazine or journal article, you must find:
* some information about the publication in which the article was published and
* some information about the author.
- For evaluating a book, you must find:
* one book review article that reviews the book, and
* some information about the author.
OPTION #1: MAGAZINE OR JOURNAL ARTICLE EVALUATION
(NOTE:
please do NOT select a book review article)
If you are evaluating a magazine or
journal article, list the
following information:
8. Identify the article being evaluated: (3 points)
a) Title of article:
b)
Author(s):
c) Source (title of the magazine or journal):
d) Date:
e) Volume # and issue # (if given):
f) Page # (if given):
Identify your evaluation sources:
9. Find one source of information that describes the publication (magazine
or journal) in which the article was published. (This should be the same
publication as listed in 8c.)
(This can usually be found at the publication’s website or in a Wikipedia
article on the publication, as explained in section
4 of the reading.)
a)
Give the title and URL (address) of the publication’s website or the Wikipedia article describing the publication.
(2 points):
b) Briefly summarize the
description of the publication, focusing on the publication’s political or
ideological perspective, organizational affiliations, reputation, etc.
Is this an appropriate source to use for a research paper?
Please answer thoroughly and provide support and evidence for your
statements. (3 points):
10) Find one source of information about the author of the article.
(Finding information about an author is discussed in section 2 of the reading.)
a)
If the author information is from a web page, give the title and URL of
the web page (2 points):
-OR-
b)
If the author information is from an article or other reference source, give
the title, author, source (publication) and date of the article
(2 points):
11)
Please explain what you learned about the author’s qualifications, credibility
or reputation?
Is this author’s work appropriate to use for a research paper?
Please answer thoroughly and provide support and evidence for your
statements. (3 points)
OPTION #2: BOOK EVALUATION
If you are evaluating a book, list the following information:
(NOTE: please select a whole book; do NOT select an article from a book)
12)
Identify the book being evaluated (3 points):
a) Author of the book:
b) Title of the book:
c)
Year the book was published:
Identify your evaluation sources:
13) Find one article or web page that reviewed the book. (5 points)
(Finding book reviews is discussed in section
3 of the reading.)
a)
Author (if given) of an article or web page that reviewed the book you
selected:
b) Title of the periodical or web site in which the review appeared:
c) Date of the periodical or web page in which the review appeared:
d) Page(s) of the review article (if the review article is from a periodical):
e) URL of the web page (if the review article is from a web page):
f) Give a brief summary of the review and describe whether or not it would
be appropriate to use for a research paper:
Please answer thoroughly and
provide support and evidence for your statements.
14). Find one source of information about the author of the book being
evaluated.
(Finding information about an author is discussed in section
2 of the reading.)
a) If the author
information is from a web page, give the title and URL of the web page (2
points):
-OR-
b) If the author information is from an article, give the title, author, source
and date of the article (2 points):
15) Please explain what
you learned about the author’s qualifications, credibility or reputation?
Is this author’s work appropriate to use for a research paper?
Please answer thoroughly and provide support and evidence for your
statements. (3 points)
Last
revised: 12-24-08 by
These materials may be used for educational purposes. All commercial rights are
reserved.
Send comments or suggestions to: