When I have to find information or documents or to write an essay about a specific topic I am always sceptical about using the Internet: the Web offers an endless amount of information and material which could easily fill ten essays on my topic. However, the very fear that I might fill my essay with non-sensical drivel written by someone with no real clue about the subject is one which normally prohibits me from using the internet a great deal. This is why I usually prefer to go to the library and explore the books on offer there...at least it's something official which has been published!
Anyway the Internet has the advantage of being much easier to access than a real library..it's right here on the desk in your room...easy!
When I use it for my research I first of all use google as a search engine and then when huge lists of websites containing the word I'm searching for appear, I pay attention to the url of the pages in order to understand and make sure they belong to official and reliable websites.
Another fundamental aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is: Who is saying this?Who wrote these things? Is this author reliable or is he just someone who decided to publish his work on the web?!
When I use it for my research I first of all use google as a search engine and then when huge lists of websites containing the word I'm searching for appear, I pay attention to the url of the pages in order to understand and make sure they belong to official and reliable websites.
Another fundamental aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is: Who is saying this?Who wrote these things? Is this author reliable or is he just someone who decided to publish his work on the web?!
Until now all my searches followed primarily these criteria...the rest of my judgement was based on the content. I had a look at the websites of some Universities and the advice they give when surfing the web and collecting sources is much clearer and useful. From now on I'll definitely change the way I evaluate information sources from the web.
4 commenti:
Hello!
I also put very much emphasis on the content when evaluating. It's something you can't fail to notice. We should rely on the impression a text gives us the first time we read it. However, as far as we search for things that are known to us, this method works well. But, if we don't know the subject, if we are completely new to it, then we don't have enough knowledge to assess it. And here we should be very careful.
Ok, this was just a brief reflection on the "content method"...
Bye!
Hey Vale!
I see you are sceptical about searching the net for the information you need. Well...I think you are right. We all should to be sceptical about it! The amount of information is so huge and out of control. On the other hand, as you probably learnt from this activity, you just need to focus on some useful criteria in order to search the net in a proper way. Focusing on the URL can be useful, even if I think that the author is more important. For example, an amateurial site can publish professional reliable information just because the webmaster is interested in the topic.
I'm happy this activity has been useful for you...at least it let you know some useful criteria you can use in the future.
See you,
Federico.
Dear Valentina,
I agree with you and Federico about the Web. It contains a lot of websites and we have to pay attention in order to choose useful sources. Nowadays anyone can create a blog or a website so it’s becoming more and more difficult to find helpful material on the Internet. At the same time we should be positive and think that we can find what we need thanks to some criteria. I read you always focus on the author, on the urls of the sites, and on the content of the sources. Good choice! I think it’s very important to know who wrote an article, created or updated a website. Moreover, urls make us understand if the sites are trustworthy. Once you find the author (and something about him/her) and you check the urls, you can decide if the content of the source is interesting and useful. You said that after visiting some websites you found other helpful criteria. (Did you have a look at the websites advised by Sarah or also other websites?) I’d like to advise you to check if the website is updated regularly and if information is partial. You said that you find libraries very important, and I agree with you. Even though the Web provides us with a great opportunity, we shouldn’t forget libraries and books.
See you!
Giovanna
Hi Valentina! I agree with you: the Internet is a dangerous place where to find reliable information! But it is easy and so…something we prefer to surf on the Net instead of going to the library! However, when I was working on my thesis, I obviously used much more books than sites!! Sites helped me for other kind of material, for example to find out where a the play I was interested in was staged! However, I think we must trust in the Internet: as any other mean, it can be useful is someone knows hoe to use it well! So, we have to learn! And this activity has certainly helped us!
Bye
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