Quick Reference Guide to Evaluation Sources
Be a Critical Consumer of Information
- Alexa.ComDiscover who owns a website and the approximate amount of traffic it receives.
Triangulate information before you assume it is true.
"Don't refuse to believe; refuse to start out believing." p.88
Rheingold, H. (2012). Net smart: How to thrive online. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
If there is no author listed on a website, try Alexa or Whois, to identify the owner of the website.
To identify rumors and disinformation on the web, use Snopes.
- Whois.ComAnother tool for finding out who owns a website. This is especially useful when there is no author listed on a website.
- Snopes.ComSnopes.com, started in 1995 to debunk rumors and disinformation on the web, continues to do so.
Sample Evaluations
Examine each of these website groupings about similar topics. Which are credible and which are less than credible. How do you know? Use the information in the rubric above.
- Search for sites that link to those sites.
- See who owns the site.