Evaluating+and+Search+Engines

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Evaluating
Remember to evaluate the websites you're using. Not all websites are created equal, and some, especially about issues and causes, might be published with people who have opinions rather than the facts. Keep these questions in mind as use different websites:

//Author: Who is the author or publisher of the website? What are they affiliated with? Do they list contact information? Are they taking credit for what they are publishing? Information: Is the information on the website accurate (check it against other websites or books to check)? Is everything spelled right, grammatically correct? Organization: Is the site organized well? Is information divided into different pages/content areas? Is it easy to navigate? Visual: Is the site visually appealing? Is there too much going on? Are there a lot of ads distracting from the content? Is it difficult to tell the difference between the ads and information?//

When you search for information about your cause on the web, there's a good chance you're going to get search results that lead to blogs. Blogs are great because they give everyone an opportunity to express their opinions, but they're also tricky for the same reason. On a blog, even more than websites, it is sometimes tricky to figure out who is writing it and what their agenda is.

The following is a list of things to figure out about a blog before you decide it's a good source:
 * //Is there a name of an author, organization, contact information, Bio, Credentials, About Us, and/or Profile information.//
 * //Are there links to already-known-to-be-credible blogs that are revelant to your topic?//
 * //Do the hypertext links leading to reputable sources of information?//
 * //Does the blog have a professional appearance, good use of visual elements, non-amateurish design.//
 * //Is there an overwhelming clutter of ads, sales hype, or cheesy gimmicks designed to attract your attention.//
 * //Does the blogger have an ax to grind or ranting tone that makes the blog author seem unreasonably bitter, condemning, fanatic, super-hostile, paranoid, crude, racist, sexist, misanthropic, or vulgar.//
 * //Does the blogger use reasonable, rational language--with explanations, definitions, clarifications, links to substantiating information, as needed or appropriate.//
 * //Is the blog free from excessive typos, wrong spellings, bad grammar.//
 * //Are there good remarks by trustworthy people?//
 * //Is there tolerance of opposing points of view?//

Search Engines
While many of us go straight to Google when it's time to search, there are a few more search engines out there. Check some of these out for a variety of results: [|Altavista] [|Dogpile] - Dogpile searches Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask all at once [|Ask]- Ask has a blog-searching feature [|KidGrid]

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