Not everything you read online is true. Anyone can create a website, which may or may not provide accurate information or could be biased. Before you choose to use a website, whether for personal or academic use, use the ABCD of Website Evaluation to judge its usefulness. Watch the short video below to learn more about website evaluation.
It is essential that you evaluate your websites before you use them for academic or personal reasons. Just because you read it on the Internet, Facebook, or Twitter, doesn't make it real.
You will use the ABCD of website evaluation for each website you use on your annotated bibliography. The chart below will help you walk through the evaluation. You will learn about each letter (authority, bias, currency, documentation), what you need to look for, why you need to look for the information, and how you can tell. The PDF at the bottom is the full size document.
Review the links below. Can you tell the different between the real websites and the hoaxes?
Not every website evaluation will be as easy to distinguish, but if you cannot find the author, when the website was last updated, or the facts supporting the evidence, it is not safe to use as a source for a paper.
You will get more practice in this week's forum discussion.
This week you will be required to complete a quiz on website evaluation, and your first annotated bibliography, the Finances Annotated Bibliography.
The websites you choose should be relevant and/or important to you. If you're getting ready to purchase your first home, find information that could be useful to first-time home buyers. Maybe you need to learn about your credit score, how to save money, or pay off debt.