Transcript Slide 1

MLA citing on the
Internet/Web
Is Everything On The Web True?
Presented by: Brian Slevin
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES OF "WORKS CITED"
PROBLEMS
OR
HOW TO GET A BAD GRADE ON YOUR "WORKS
CITED" LIST
Lack of Accuracy and Authority In Your
Sources Will Result In a Poor Grade
Your web sites need to be written
by reputable and reliable writers.
Who is the author of the page? Why is she or he an expert?
What organization is sponsoring the web page?
Watch out for personal web pages from free web hosts
(Angelfire, Geocities or Xoom, Blogs, Myspace, etc.)
DOES THE WEB PAGE PASS
THE "EYEBROW TEST?"
You should suspect that the page is a personal web
page if you see this symbol (~) in the address.
Here is an example: Click for Sample or watch video
http://users.orac.net.au/~mhumphry/aborigin.html
Who is writing this page?
What organization is sponsoring it?
Personal pages might also have the word "user" or
"member" in the address.
Click for Sample of personal page or watch video
http://members.tripod.com/~waycool_dude/main.html
Also - watch out for pages on free web hosts
(Angelfire, Geocities or Xoom, Blogs, Myspace,
etc.)
LET THE RESEARCHER
BEWARE!!
Is an "eyebrow" web address always
the sign of a bad web site?
NO! Sometimes the pages are excellent. Check out
who the author is. Here is an example:
at http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/
Click for Sample or view the video
BUT - ALWAYS BE SUSPICIOUS!!
And…. What about SPOOF SITES?
Click for Shards O’ Glass or watch the video….
Photo used with permission of Max Velasco Knott, Managing Editor, The New
University, University of California, Irvine.
BUT - NOT ALL BAD WEB SITES ARE SO OBVIOUS
HERE ARE SOME CLASSIC EXAMPLES OF SITES
LACKING AUTHORITY:
(Some of these could have turned up in a paper you wrote
in the past!)
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU FIND
ON A GOOGLE SEARCH
RESEARCH TOPIC - Pop Culture in the 1970's
Type in the following question: Where did
Elvis die? Do this now!
Are all the answers the same?
One link will bring you to: http://www.elvis-is-alive.com/
RESEARCH TOPIC – Pearl Harbor
http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00296/PearlHarbor.htm
It LOOKS like it could be a good site.
Even the address looks respectable. The word library is even
in it. And it ends in .org. So... what's wrong?
Look for a link about the author to find out or check out the
video on the next slide….
DO VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CAUSE VIOLENT
BEHAVIOR?
https://personalwebs.oakland.edu/~jakosmas/project2.html
Click for sample or watch video…
RESEARCH TOPIC - Basketball
History of Basketball
http://www.history-of-basketball.com/index.htm
Who is the author of this site?
Click for Site or watch video…
RESEARCH TOPIC - Animal Rights
BONSAI Kitten
http://www.shorty.com/bonsaikitten/
Click here for sample or watch video…
Who is the author of this site? Is there somewhere
that you can order the necessary equipment online?
Do any reputable sites link to it? If I check
www.snopes.com will it show up as a hoax site?
But - What If you are just not sure about a site?
What can you do?
“Who you gonna call?”
HOAXBUSTERS!!!
See page 1
of your
handout
Here are some dependable "hoax busting" sites:
http://www.snopes.com/
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
Or you could just ask Mr. Slevin =)
Remember:
It is your job to locate reliable sources.
Your teacher will not be able to accept the parts
of your paper that are based on unacceptable
sources.
When in doubt - find another source.
A sponsoring organization is very important to help you
determine if a web page is authoritative.
Kurt Vonnegut, New York State Author 2001-2003
http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/vonnegutkurt.html
Too Many Advocacy Web Sites Or Too
Few Objective Sources Will Result In a
Poor Grade
Advocacy sites have a commercial, political or
social agenda.
The authors of the page may want to sell you a product, an
idea, a political agenda or a social position.
REMEMBER! It does not mean that the information is
incorrect. But - it might be biased or slanted towards the
authors’ opinions.
Examples of advocacy web sites
The NRA
http://www.nra.org/
The Brady Campaign
http://www.bradycampaign.org/index.asp
Lack of Currency and Coverage In Your
Sources Will Result In a Poor Grade
COVERAGE
You will need a lot of information to do a thorough job
of researching your topic.
Minimum Number of sources (5)
FOR A SUPERIOR grade (at least 6)
If you have MORE than the minimum required number
of sources, you will probably have a much better paper.
SOMETHING ELSE TO
WATCH OUT FOR!!
Be careful that your sources are not too
old.
Not everything on the web is up-todate.
Many pages were uploaded in the early
90's and just left to "rot".
Lack of Variety In Media In Your Works
Cited List Will Result In a Poor Grade
Heavy dependence on one type of resource will usually
not give you as much information as you need.
Basically don’t use 20 quotes from one website =)
If you do not use a variety of the required types
of sources, you will get a zero and you can’t
come tell me what a bad man/woman your
teacher is because I will be on their side =)
What Types of Sources Are Helpful?
•GENERAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
•REFERENCE BOOKS
•BOOKS
•RESEARCH DATABASE ARTICLES
•WEB PAGES
Poor MLA Format & Content - Insufficient
Or Incorrect Citation Information -Will
Result In a Poor Grade
See page 2
of your
handout
NOTE: You would have to be terminally lazy to lose many
points on MLA Format & Content.
You can access the CITATION machine off my website
anytime, the link will always be there.
http://citationmachine.net/
Watch the tutorial on how to use it for even the
most insane research….
Did I check if it was a hoax?
Of course =) Nothing listed on any of the hoax websites and
I found several other websites that have similar articles…
http://in.news.yahoo.com/040411/139/2ci0w.html
Also lists it as real as does the website ananova.com which
typically publishes “weird” stories.
So all websites collaborate with the fact that some doctor
named Dr. Friedrich Bischinger believes eating the
contents of your nose is good for strengthening your
immune system…I don’t believe it but he does =)
WHAT SHOULD YOUR COMPLETED
WORKS CITED LIST LOOK LIKE?
See page 3
of your
handout
To see an example, click here or watch the video ;)
With just a little careful detective
work - I know you will all be able to
find some really great web sites!
BEST OF LUCK FROM
MR. SLEVIN
YOUR INFORMATION
SUPERHERO =)
I gotta stop
wearing these
tights to
work…
DON’T FORGET!
I AM ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO HELP NO MATTER WHAT
GRADE YOU ARE IN (Just don’t ask for tissues, pens, pencils,
band aids, tape, loose-leaf…)