Worksheet for Advanced Internet Users

Question: Is the Web a good research tool?

Answer: Yes, but only if you are careful.  

Five suggestions for examining Web pages:

  1. Make sure you are in the right place. Don’t use the Web only because it is fun and easy; use it when it is the appropriate source for the information you need. The Web was originally designed as a medium to exchange scientific (and military) research data, but it has become a commercial playground. The research is still there, but it is harder to find.  

  2. When in doubt, doubt. Since almost anyone can put up almost anything on the Web, you must be especially careful as you examine each site. Accuracy is not always easy to detect, test one source against another. Try to differentiate fact from opinion. Look for ambiguity and manipulative reasoning and bias examine assumptions, including your own.  

  3. Consider the source. Who are the authors of the Web page? What gives them their expertise? by what authority do they write? Have they provided you with a means to contact them? Check the URL to see if the domain name includes one of the following endings: com. (commercial), gov.(government), org.(non-profit organization), net (network), edu.(educational), or a two letter code for the country of origin. These will give you a clue about the Web page’s author or source.  

  4. Know what is happening. Identify the purpose of the web Page. Is the main purpose to inform, to persuade, or to sell you something?  

  5. Look at details. Check the ideas not only the design and the graphics of a Web page. Check for the obvious things such as good grammar and correct spelling. Note the depth of the material presented. When was the Web item last revised, how up-to-date are the links? What kind of sources is linked?

    6.  

    Apply the principles above to the following exercise: Consider this hypothetical situation: One of the major cellular phone companies in Israel is interested in erecting a transmitting antenna in the vicinity of Bar Ilan University. The BIU campus will be within the electromagnetic field of the transmitter and will radiate toward the University.   You have been asked to prepare a report on the possible dangers of exposure to the electromagnetic field of the cellular phone transmitter.   What words will you use in your search? (Don’t forget the “ and the + signs)   Do the search. How many articles are there in your search results?   Copy the title of three articles against erecting the antenna.

    1. ______________________________________

    2. ______________________________________

    3. ______________________________________  

Copy the titles of three articles which would not oppose the antenna.

    1. ______________________________________

    2. ______________________________________

    3. ______________________________________

    Take a stand. What is your position on the subject? Support your opinion with information from your research.          

Main Page
List of Lessons