ICYouSee:

adapted by Lois Smith, Central College Library, from an exercise by John R. Henderson, Ithaca College Library

There are numerous search engines to allow you to find resources on the web.   
    Here's a guide to using the most common ones.  
        Unfortunately finding resources isn't always enough. 
            And remember that even the best search engines search only a small fraction of the web.

To use the Web well, you need to do more.  

Make sure you are in the right place.     

• Why you are using the Web? 
• Is it the appropriate source for the information you are seeking?. 
• Sometimes a library reference book -- or a librarian -- is the place to go.
• Geisler Librarians have picked out some useful and reliable web resources for you.

The Web was originally designed exchange scientific and military research data, but it has become a commercial playground. 
The research is still there, but it is harder to find and no longer may be free or easily accessible. 

Not everything is on the Web.  

• Because of copyright, cost, and demand issues (and dozens of other reasons), some materials just won't be found on the Web. 
• Many archives and historical documents are being digitized (examples:  American Memory Project, U.S. Historical Documents Archive) 
• BUT most materials written before the 1980s have not migrated to the Web.  
• Where there is a profit to be made, periodical database vendors such as EBSCOHost are gradually adding older issues of journals -- for a price.
• Electronic book sites will provide you with full text.  Some are free.  Others must be purchased. 

When in doubt, doubt.  
       Almost anyone can put up almost anything on the Web for almost any purpose.

• Try to differentiate fact from opinion. 

• Accuracy is not always easy to confirm, so test one source against another. 

• Can you verify the same information elsewhere?

• Look for ambiguity and manipulative reasoning. 

• Who are the authors, anyway, and do they know what they are talking about?

• Check for authors' research methods and what supportive evidence is provided for their conclusions. 

• Is there bias due to corporate affiliations, personal or political causes or agendas?

• Examine assumptions, including and perhaps especially, your own.

• Consider your gullibility quotient -- Do you believe everything on the Web? Do you call upon your previous knowledge when looking at new ideas or info?

Consider the source.  

• THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO!!

• Who are the creators of the Web page?
   A well-designed Web page will let you find that easily. 

• What gives them their authority or expertise to write?
  It may be harder to find something about the authors that indicates what gives them their expertise and by what authority they write. Even if they don't identify themselves, they should at least provide you a means to contact them.

• Why are they posting this information?  

   

• Who is responsible for the site? Is this a commercial, governmental, personal, or academic Web site? 
  • Check the top level domain of the site's URL.
     That's the .com, .org, .net, .gov, .edu, .mil, .biz, .name, .info, .museum or two letter geographic code (.jp for Japan, .no for Norway, .uk for Great Britain, for example).  .gov indicates a U.S. government site (a Canadian government site will end in .ca, not .gov), and .edu indicates an educational institution.  
  • A tilde (~) as part of the URL indicates that the Web site is a personal page. 
  • What can these tell you about a web site? 
  • You can't judge a Web site just by its code, however.
    Not all commercial sites will try to sell you something, but they warrant a different kind of scrutiny than those at a governmental site. The quality and nature of .edu sites range from research forums to personal essays by students to joke collections to ???

   

  Two sites to examine

  This site has changed over the last few years; Why?   http://www.rjrt.com/TI/tobacco_cover.asp

  Some people have difficulty telling truth from fiction:   http://city-mankato.us                                     Here's the real Mankato city page:  http://www.ci.mankato.mn.us

•  Is there an "about us" or "about the author" type of link on the page?
  What does it tell you about the organization of person responsible for the content of the page?
  Don't confuse this with the "webmaster" who is in charge of the computer code to make the page work.

How can you find out about authors or organizations?

• Check for an "about" link or another link to the organization or author.
•  Examine the address of the "mailto" for the person or the webmaster.  Try the part of the address after the
           @ as a web address  (example:  change smithl@central.edu into http://central.edu or
           http://www.central.edu 
• Do a Google  or AltaVista search on the name and see if you can find out affiliations or other materials
          authored by this person or organization.
• Use library reference books such as the Encyclopedia of Associations  R 061 Ga 5 e   or 
          Who's who in America  R 920.07 Wh 6 w
• View the "source code" for the page.  Look in the title or the "Meta name: keywords" to see if there
          are clues to the purpose of the page.
• Examine the text of the page.  Search personal names, journal names, organization names that you find.

Know what's happening.  

 

• Try to identify the reason why the Web page was created in the first place. 
• What is its main purpose?  To inform?  To persuade?  To sell you something? 
• What is not being said? 
• Who is the author?  Does he or she have any credibility?  Does the author present a particular viewpoint?

 

An online movie review should be judged on the same merit as a review in the daily newspaper. But make sure what you are looking at is a movie review or real film criticism. What you are more likely to find on the Web is a blurb about a film supplied by the movie studio producing it or some fan's bubbling praise.

 

You can learn a good bit about a Web site by the company it keeps. Most search engines will let you search by a site's URL to see who has links to it. That won't just tell you how popular the site it. If you check some of the links, you may find the site discussed or evaluated. At least, you should discover how the site has been labeled or categorized.      http://www.google.com/advanced_search

          What is the difference between http://www.whitehouse.gov and http://www.whitehouse.org?    

Look at details.  

• Internal clues can tell you much about a Web page.
• Check for the obvious things:
  • is the site well-organized and easy to navigate?
  • good grammar and correct spelling
  • the date the page was last revised -- is it current?  Is currency necessary for your research?
  • the depth of the material presented
  • do the links work?  What kind of sources are being linked?
  • are the links evaluated or annotated in any way?
  • does the site offer anything unique?  or could you find the same thing in a general encyclopedia?
  • do the graphics serve any purpose other than decoration?

Distinguish Web pages from pages found on the Web.  

•  Was this site designed for the Web?
•  Or, was it originally something else?  If it was originally something else, what something else was it?

When people speak of Web pages, they don't usually distinguish between material created for the web, and and materials created for other purposes that happen to have a copy residing on the web, such as art works, periodical articles and books.

Both books and periodical articles are accessible through the Web, but you (or your college library) have to pay for most of them via vendors such as EBSCO and netLibrary.  However, the text of many "classics" (the ones that have no copyright restrictions) can be found online. These classics will include anything from historical documents to religious texts, poetry and classic children's books.

Many research oriented materials, such as conference proceedings may no longer be published in their traditional paper format.

Many libraries no longer subscribe to the paper version of periodicals, including peer reviewed (scholarly or refereed or academic) journals, but subscribe to the online version of the journal, or Web-based periodical databases (such as those from EbscoHost or Academic Universe) that include articles of journals in full text.

Some periodical articles will appear in the results of a Google or other web search.  A few places provide free access to excellent journal articles.  However, on the Web you can't see the cover of the periodical that the article came from. It may be harder to find the publisher or the date of publication.  It can take more effort to distinguish among magazines, trade journals, and peer reviewed journals when all you can see is the full text transcript. 

Wherever you find it, a book or article still must be considered and evaluated.

A final topic:  Web sites used by hate groups.

         

There is proliferation of material on the Web produced by hate groups and people with dangerous agendas. Since I believe in the concepts outlined in the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights, and since efforts to try to censor or block their material seem rather futile, I think the most important thing we can do is to stay informed, educate others, and help expose them. Critically examine what you read on any Web site. Some hate group pages advertise themselves with burning crosses and swastikas, but others are more subtle. Hate group messages can be found on pages with any domain name and from countries around the world. Many speakers for hate groups are clever in their arguments, good at hiding hate, and skilled at twisting others' words. Check for logical fallacies. The Southern Poverty Law Center  monitors hate groups. Check out its Intelligence Project, the most complete study of hate groups in the U.S.   Other groups that monitor hate groups or offer advice or teaching guides are the ADL and the Canadian Media Awareness Network .  The Nizkor Project works overtime countering Holocaust denial. Alan November writes why holocaust revisionism is important to discuss in public schools and elsewhere and takes you through the process of examining a web site. If a group claims to be religious, whom are they affiliated with and what ethical or moral positions they are advocating. Don't be misled by the address or name of a web site; anybody can name their site "martinlutherking.org" and it may be a hate site or deal with something entirely different.

 

Practice

Compare these two statistical sites related to alien abductions.

Is either site a "right" place to look for good statistical information on alien abductions?  
Do either give you a reason to doubt the information provided?
Which one of the two do you think is a reliable resource for research?
Why?

Exhibit One

Exhibit Two

Here's a more difficult example:  Is this a real site or is it bogus?   How can you tell?

Answer the following questions about this site.
    1. Who is the author of this site?  
    2. Are the facts presented accurate?
    3. Is the site well organized and presented?
    4. What is the purpose of this site?

Which of these sites is the real thing and which is satire?

Assignment 

Choose one of the topics below. 

Follow the instructions given on the topic page.

E-mail your answers to me, Lois Smith (smithl@central.edu)

Original page maintained by: John R. Henderson (jhenderson@ithaca.edu), Ithaca College Library.
URL: http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html
Lois Smith's adaptation last modified: May 17, 2005 
URL: http://www.central.edu/library/icyousee.htm