english 1213 dr. maxson session 2 internet and evaluation
TRANSCRIPT
English 1213Dr. Maxson
Session 2
Internet and Evaluation
Periodicals
MAGAZINESMAGAZINES Popular Info Audience:
General Public Casual Reader
Purpose: Hobby Pleasure Curiosity
JOURNALSJOURNALS Scholarly Info Audience:
Researcher Professional Who Needs
to Stay Up-to-Date
Purpose: Goal-Driven
Research Paper Certification, Tenure Job Requirement
Class Activity
What’s the Difference?
Difference Between Scholarly and Popular Periodicals
POPULAR MAGAZINESPOPULAR MAGAZINES
USUALLY SOMEWHAT SLICK AND ATTRACTIVE IN APPEARANCE
RARELY CITE SOURCES. INFO. IS USUALLY SECONDARY, REPORTED FROM SOURCE
ARTICLES SHORT, WRITTEN IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE AND FOR A MINIMAL EDUCATION LEVEL
USUALLY LOT OF ADVERTISING AND PICTURES
PAGINATION RESTARTS IN EVERY ISSUE
SCHOLARLY JOURNALSSCHOLARLY JOURNALS
HAVE A SOBER, SERIOUS LOOK
ALWAYS CITE THEIR SOURCES IN FOOTNOTES/BIBLIOGRAPHIES
ARTICLES WRITTEN BY A SCHOLAR OR RESEARCHER “HORSE’S MOUTH”
PEER-REVIEWED BY SCHOLARS
LANGUAGE OF JOURNAL ASSUMES SOME SCHOLARLY BACKGROUND ON THE PART OF READER
ADVERTISING IS SPECIALIZED TO THAT DISCIPLINE
PAGINATION IS CUMULATIVE
Moving Towards Evaluation
Scholarly sources are concerned with academic study, especially research for individuals such as, students, teachers, professors, or any other professional who need current information to stay informed of changes to their profession or area of expertise. Many scholarly journals are peer reviewed or refereed, that is, these articles have been subjected to a rigorous approval and editing process by other scholars in that discipline. This process doesn’t apply to popular magazines.
The Internet is…
a major presence in our daily lives constantly growing helping make an enormous amount of
information available
Web Searching is easy because…..
Speed Choice Availability 24/7
Always get an answer
Web searching is difficult because…
Organization Quality control Reliability
Web vs. Library Databases Web
Good for current events
Statistical Information Pop Culture Opinion Information about
Organizations & Groups
Library Databases Research Based
Books & Articles Full-text Resources Authoritative & Peer-
reviewed Materials Information about
People & Cultures Easier to Search
AND, OR, NOT Specific Subjects
Evaluation
Remember to Evaluate!!! Authority
Who created it? Who is responsible? What credentials do they hold? What makes them qualified
to discuss the topic? Accuracy
Can the information be verified? Check the facts!
Objectivity How is the information being presented? Is it objective or biased? What’s the point of view?
Currency (important based on subject) When was it published? When was it last updated?
Step 1: Authority
Web Pages Credentials/Qualifications/Reputation Who is responsible for content?
Webmaster? Web team? Organization? Institution? Company?
Domain Names
Which one is right? www.whitehouse.com www.whitehouse.gov www.whitehouse.net www.whitehouse.org
Whois.net www.whois.net
.gov .org .mil .com .edu .net .int
Indicates a reliable domain
Domain Names
Domain Names: ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has overall responsibility for managing the Domain Name System.
Step 2: Accuracy
Web PagesCan the information be verified?
Links to credible sites Copyright Works Cited Fact check with a printed source
Step 3: Objectivity
Web Pages Biased or Objective?
Opinion/Fan sites Sponsoring Organization Agendas Political Propaganda Web hosting
http://english.aljazeera.net/News
http://www.foxnews.com/
http://www.npr.org/
Step 4: Currency
Web PagesWhen was it created and last updated?
Well maintained web sites have an indication when it was last updated or modified
Accessibility Dead links
Stability Changes URLs frequently
Exercise: Evaluation Handout
www.who.int/en/ www.dhmo.org www.genochoice.com www.martinlutherking.org www.defendamerica.mil www.oshp.net
Larry Page & Sergey Brin/ Grad Students 1998
Mission: "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.“
2007: 23 Billion dollar corporation
Google: A Tool like any other
Site Specific Command
What it does: searches only specific websites
What to type: Blackwater Security site:com
What you’ll get: references to Blackwater Security on dot com websites
Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides a simple way to search for scholarly literature. Search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
Google Scholar
Works best for citations Restrictions to Content
Fee-basedOften your Library already owns material
We’re working on improving access
Wikipedia
Wiki: A Web application that allows users to add content to a collaborative hypertext Web resource (coauthoring), as in an Internet forum, and permits others to edit that
content (open editing).
Wikipedia
Jimmy Wales January 15, 2001 No Original Research NPOV (Neutral point of view) No owners, multiple anonymous authors Anyone with Internet access can create or
edit an entry…Anyone
Wikipedia
Contributors: male, English speaking, denizens of the Internet.
Problem is not that it disregards the facts, but that it elevates them above all else.
Most of the content is discussion/history of edits & not the entries themselves.
Rosenzweig, Roy. “Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past.” The Journal
of American History 93.1 (2006): 117-146.
Wikipedia
Participation maps popular, not academic concerns It is a working community…but is it a good
historical resource? Lack of Critical Analysis Problematic as a sole source of information Like all encyclopedias…ok to start, terrible place to
stop. Benefits are to its active participants, not its
readers.
The Machine is Us/ing Us
Writing Your Paper
Writing CenterLocated in the basement of the libraryCall for appointment #774-7083
MLA StyleStyle SheetsMLA Handbook at Reference & Circulation
Deskhttp://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/
