Evaluate It

Learning Objectives

1. Learn criteria for evaluating information sources.
2. Apply evaluation criteria to a source identified for the class project.

Pre-Class Readings

Ask students to read the following tutorials before class. Each tutorial includes practice activities and self-test questions, and requires about 30 minutes to complete. A graded multiple-choice quiz in Carmen is also available for instructors to use on request.

• Title: Evaluating Web Sites
• Link: http://liblearn.osu.edu/tutor/les1/
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Overview: Describes a strategy and criteria for evaluating Web-based content. Topics include authority, purpose, content bias, accuracy, scope of coverage, currency, and recognition (links, citations by others, etc.). Brief checklist is also available.

In-Class Resources

Instructor PowerPoint

• Title: Source Evaluation
• Link: http://liblearn.osu.edu/courses/english110/evaluate.ppt
• Duration: 20-25 minutes
• Overview: Reviews reasons for evaluating sources, proposes a simple 5 question strategy (who, what, when, where, why) and relates these questions to the information provided in the tutorial, offers some examples, and suggests a practice task for the class.
• Instructor script: http://liblearn.osu.edu/courses/english110/evaluate_script.doc

Narrated Presentation

• Title: Source Evaluation
• Link: http://liblearn.osu.edu/movies/evaluate_it.htm
• Duration: 10 minutes
• Overview: This is a narrated Captivate movie that incorporates the PowerPoint slides along with examples. It may be assigned to students to view independently or as homework, along with the activity on this page.

Related Student Activities

This activity may also be assigned as homework.

• Focus: Rate It
• Link: http://liblearn.osu.edu/courses/english110/evaluate_it.doc
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Overview: Student selects a site to evaluate, answers five key questions and determines an overall rating for it.