Exercises and Projects

1. These pages have to do with immigration. Use the methods discussed in the chapter to evaluate the accuracy and objectivity of each page. Mention the sponsoring organization.

a. "Texans for Fair Immigration, Inc.: Immigration Facts and Statistics" http://xld.com/public/tffi/facts.htm

b. "Migration Dialogue" http://migration.ucdavis.edu/


c. "U. S. Citizenship Tutorial" http://www.us-immigration.com/citizens.htm

d. "Why Americans Support Immigration Reform" http://www.fairus.org/html/04146710.htm

2. Explore several pages in these sites that are on the subject of alternative medicine. Using the criteria listed in the chapter, evaluate each of these sites for authorship, currency, accuracy, and bias.

a. "Alternative Medicine Health Updates" http://heall.com/body/healthupdates/index.html

b. "Alternative Medicine for Illness?"
http://www.gatorbytes.com/gatorbytes/health/layman_guide.htm


c. "The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine" http://nccam.nih.gov/

3. These Web pages all have to do with the issue of sustainable forest management. Write a brief evaluation of each, focusing on whether the information is objective, or is advocating a cause.

a. "Will Timber Certification Deliver Sustainable Forest Management?" http://www.nfn.org.au/cat01.htm

b. "Forestry Facts: An Overview" http://www.nafi.com.au/faq/


c. "Forest Facts From Owens Forest Products" http://www.owensforestproducts.com/forestfacts.html

d. "The Sierra Club's End Commercial Logging in National Forests Campaign"
http://www.sierraclub.org/logging/

4. Now take a look at the topic of smoking. Which of these three sites do you think gives more accurate, reliable information? Would you use one of them as a source for a research paper? None of them? Why?

a. "Action on Smoking and Health" http://ash.org

b. "Non-Smokers Rights Association" http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/english/

c. "The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter" http://www.smokersclub.com/newsltr.htm

5. Let’s look at some commercial pages. Explore the following sites. What is the audience and what is the purpose of each of these commercial sites? Is the main purpose informational or to sell a product? Is the information given reliable? What do you think of the mix?

a. "Better Homes and Gardens Online" http://www.bhg.com/

b. "Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance" http://www.lordofthedance.com

c. "Sony Music" http://usa.sonymusic.com/home/index.html

d. "Edmunds.com" http://www.edmunds.com

6. Look at these pages about home schooling and compare the information. Evaluate each site based on the criteria given in the chapter.

a. "A Personal Opinion about Home Schooling" http://www. adprima. com/homeschooling.htm

b. "Michael Shearer" http://www.easystreet.com/~hsms/

c. "Jon's Homeschool Resource Page" http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/

7. Take a look at some other criteria for evaluating Web sites at these pages. Choose one of the following sites, and compare their criteria with those given in the chapter.

a. "Evaluating Internet Information" http://www.library.jhu.edu/elp/useit/evaluate/index.html

b. "Criteria for Evaluating Internet Sites" http://library.websteruniv.edu/webeval.html

c. "Evaluating Websites" http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/find/eval.htm

8. Go to the home page for the organization entitled Global Warming at http://www.globalwarming.org. Evaluate this site by answering these questions: Who is responsible for this site? What is its purpose? Is there a bias in the information presented? Does the group cite the research studies that it reports on?