Reliable Sources

Today, we continued our inquiry project. Students are asking questions related to life of the Maya.

Before we went to the computer lab, we did a mini-lesson on source reliability. This lesson has two goals: 1) to learn a few key elements of a website to consider when selecting sources; and 2) to increase awareness of reliability within different genres to consider when doing research using the same elements of reliability?  In this mini-lesson, we discussed some elements of the source to consider when doing web searches:

1. copyright: is the information up to date; is the website monitored
2. credibility of the source: Can you look up information about the author; are the authors professionals, education and/or experts; can the information be checked on another website; are there links to related websites and articles?
3. domain: .com, .net, .edu, and .gov; here we talked a little bit about Wikipedia -- what is good and problematic about this source. For our discussion, what seems most useful is how Wikipedia is a source that can be updated at any time;  as a topic develops over time, this website can be revised whereas a book that was published a year ago will not have information about more recent developments. For example, the massacre as Srebrenica was in the 90s but just yesterday Serb leader Radovan Karadzic testified at the war crime tribunal a The Hague. On the other hand, we do not know the credentials, expertise, or bias of the writer doing the editing.
4. bias: considering if the website is "anti" or "pro" and looking for the "other" side

We looked at three websites and considered the above elements when selecting which website would be the most reliable and why.

Then, I gave students a 4-question quiz asking them to consider which sources are most reliable in four categories and argue why; what is most important is that students' reasoning includes something about the copyright, the credibility of the writer, the possible domain, and the possibility of bias:

1. websites -- articles written by students, government publications, blog, official sites like the National Park Service
2. newspapers or articles -- editorial, governmental publication, tabloid magazine
3. books/textbooks -- books copyrighted before 1950s, fiction, published by an organization, current books
4. diaries, journals, letters, and interviews -- letter written by a person who witnessed an event, writing from someone who hear about an event

When we went to the computer lab today, the goal was to find one more source (their second) with a domain of .edu, .org. or .gov and to complete a research log (their second). Students completed their source card -- author, title, website, copyright, and date found . We talked about what to do if you can't find the date (write n.d.) and what if no author is credited with the text on the website (use the title of the website). Each research log should match the source card; in other words, research log #2 would be from the source on source card #2.

While students were researching, we ( I have a great student teacher who started this week) noticed they were having difficulty determining whether or not the website would be good for their research question (now that they knew if it was reliable). So tomorrow, we will do a mini-lesson on skimming and scanning.

Interesting conversation today:
Student: What if there is only one website about my topic?
Teacher: What do you mean?
Student: There is nothing on my topic; they keep talking about something else.
Teacher: What is your topic and question?
Student: Truth Commissions and what it did for Guatemala
Teacher: Oh, let's see....you are on a page about the Memory of Silence.
Student: Yeah, so it's not about the Truth Commission
Teacher: Okay, so what is the Truth Commission?
Student: They investigated the genocide but what is this?
Teacher: This is the report, the findings the Truth Commission came up with after their investigation, so this topic is related to your question.  Let's just read the conclusion because it is a long document. Look at the headings, what's bolded: .rape, disappearance, anti-communism. So the T.C. -- you can abbreviate it in your notes -- looked into all these charges that victims or others made to see what is "true" -- basically trying to find out what really happened.
Student: Oh....and this is what they found was "true"?
Teacher: Right, but it also will say if they found something wasn't quite true or happened differently than what people said. Remember, we Tree Girl that showed the rape, disappearance, and anti-communist argument, but that was a novel, so now we can see what part of Tree Girl connects to T.C  ...but after you read this part, it would be great to find out what recommendations the Commission had, too -- that's later in the document.

at the end of class...
Teacher: Find some interesting details?
Student: Oh yeah!