How To: Detect Sources

Last week during class, we used A Google A Day and the website, http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ to help advance our understanding of effective ways to search the internet and how find accurate online sources. It is important to search the internet using different techniques for more efficient searching and to be able to identify accurate, authentic, and reliable online sources.

A Google A Day is a program powered by Google that helps students practice efficient source searching. A question is provided and one must answer it by analyzing the question and searching for keywords such as events or people within the question that may lead to the final answer. I enjoyed using A Google A Day, as I liked the strategy of using competition between groups to generate quick responses to the questions. I also found the tips and tricks I learned while searching for sources very interesting. When first using the program, my group became frustrated with the lack of sources and information we were finding. However, as we continued to search, we realized that using specific key words and searching for people and events linked to the question often generates more sources and information. Before doing this activity, I did not know how to use techniques that help find useful sources and contribute to efficient searching. Now that I have the skills for source searching, I can apply this knowledge to searching for information in school projects.

When looking for sources, it is important to make sure that the source is accurate, authentic, and reliable. It is important to find an accurate source to ensure that the information provided by the website is correct and precise. It is also important for a source to be authentic to ensure that the facts or information are genuine and original. This prevents one from using copied information on a specific topic. Lastly, it is important for the source to be reliable to ensure that the website being used is trustworthy and valid. For example, a website about endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is not a website of accuracy or reliability because the information provided is about the fictional Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Therefore, the information cannot be presented as true or trustworthy. However, this site may be classified as authentic. Although the information is false and untrustworthy, the site is authentic because of it's original information. Overall, this source should not be used in school because it lacks two of three elements that a source requires to be proven a safe, qualified source.






Pacific Northeast Tree Octopus Website

N.d. What Is the Internet? Web. 7 Sept. 2014. <http://www.nwvle.net/course/view.php?id=93>.