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- you receive feedback about your written and participation grades
- you consider options for your final product
- you learn how to identify quality work

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- you take the written exam
- you fill in and hand in your first group report
- you explain your ideas and findings to other groups
- you give feedback on other group projects

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- you refine your research
- you sum up your work so far using the group report sheet
- you enjoy your long weekend

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- you continue to research your "need to know" questions
- you evaluate the sources you find
- you take efficient notes on your findings
- you prepare correct citations
- you understand how to write a good comment

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- you understand how to collect and rephrase questions

- you try out different research approaches, websites, and tricks

- you find out more about your “need to knows”

- you show your progress to the rest of class (e.g. your padlet wall)

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Fill in for the first time until 22.05.23!

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This sheet will be used by the teacher to assess you at the end, and you can use it all the time to assess yourself and your group partners!

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Read this so you know what you should do this week!

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Work with this in week 1!

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- you understand what were are going to do in this project, why, and how
- you determine what skill you want to focus on improving
- you know what you can offer a group, and what you want from it
- you form your groups
- you figure out what you already know and what you need to know
- you create a padlet wall to show your progress

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Stage 1: Launch (goals, roles, questions)
Stage 2: Research (how to search, evaluate and take notes)
Stage 3: Product (what you can do, what is good work, how to give feedback)

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Overview of useful search engines

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The Best of the Web Today: Search Engines of 2023

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The many search engines on the web are optimized for different things depending on the context. Pick the search engine that meets your needs.

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Don't wast time when googling!

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Recently one of my sons brought home a school assignment where he was supposed to visit five websites and then answer a few questions from each. Sounds pretty simple, right?

I thought the same until I noticed his attitude change from positive (well as positive as an attitude about homework can be) to confused to frustrated. I went over to investigate what the problem was and to see if I could help. What I found was a printed worksheet that asked him to visit the following five sites:

This was a paper worksheet with printed web addresses. Not a Google document, or a blog post, or a Google Classroom announcement, or any sort of digital format with clickable links.

As a 6th grade boy with a short attention span and basic keyboarding skills, he was trying to type in these URL's ... and failing miserably. Between the five sites that's 353 characters to type in, without messing up any of the slashes and dashes.

Thankfully this was a great chance to turn a challenge into a learning opportunity. See below for two simple searching tricks I showed him that made the assignment a snap, and may help you and your students as well.

Tip #1 - Searching for URL's

From time to time you may come across a web address that is not clickable. It might be because it is printed on a piece of paper, or it might be in an image, or maybe someone is just showing you the site on their device. If the web address is long, it may be challenge to type everything correctly, including all the dots and tildes and other symbols that can show up in a URL. This is especially true for kids.

Chances are though, you do not need to type in the full web address to be able to go to the website. Instead you can search for the URL.

The key is to pick a few unique words from within the web address, enter those words in a normal Google search, and most likely one of the top results (if not the very top) will be the website you are trying to get to.

For example, instead of having my son type in the full web address for:

http://picturethis.museumca.org/timeline/depression-era-1930s/migrant-farm-workers/info

I had him type in a search for:

The very first search result was exactly the webpage we were looking for. With a simple click on the result, he was at the site without having to type in an 87-character long address.

For the next website at:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/valley-fever/basics/definition/con-20027390

He chose to run a search for just:

Once again, the top result was the site he needed (with it's 89-character long address). So in short, instead of just searching to find general information, you can also search to find specific URL's.

Tip #2 - Searching within a webpage

Now that my son had made it to the websites he needed, the first half of the process was complete. How he had to answer several questions about the content on each of the sites. Again, not a difficult task in theory, but this can be more challenging when the webpage is long with a large amount of text.

To help him with this portion, I taught him how to search within a webpage. Once you get to a website, you can easily run a second search to locate where on the page certain words show up. Here's how:

When you are on the webpage you want to search within, press the following keys:

Ctrl and F (on a PC or Chromebook)

This will open a search box in the top right corner of your web browser.

Type in a word you want to find on the page.

The word will now be highlighted on the page anywhere it shows up.

You can click the up and down arrows in the search box to jump to each location in the page where the word can be found.

Again the key is to pick an appropriate word to help locate relevant parts of a webpage. For example, to answer the question "Describe what happened in October of 1933 in California's San Joaquin Valley" my son did a search for "Joaquin" to jump to the section of the page that dealt with that content.

So when you or your students are looking for information online, don't forget the " second search ". Search once to find the website you need, but then search a second time within the page to find the specific content on the page.

Conclusion

Learning some searching tips can help save time, reduce frustration, and allow students to focus in on the content they are learning. These two simple search tricks helped my son complete his homework in a flash, so we still had time together as a family to watch "The Flash". That's a lifesaver in my book!

Post by Eric Curts. Connect with Eric on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1

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Recently one of my sons brought home a school assignment where he was supposed to visit five websites and then answer a few questions from each. Sounds pretty simple, right? I thought the same until I noticed his attitude change from positive (well as positive as an attitude about homework can be) to confused to frustrated.

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Super easy! Must use!

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Google strives to make their search as useful as possible, bringing back the most appropriate results for the terms you entered. Sometimes though Google goes above and beyond the normal list of search results by providing instant search cards at the top of the page.

These cards contain the information you searched for, but often also include interactive controls to let you dig deeper, branch off, or experience the information in a more engaging manner. As students learn to become better at searching and researching, many of the instant search cards can be useful to them in a variety of their school subjects.

See below for 20 examples of instant searches students can do, the interactive results they get, and ideas for how these could be used to improve learning in school.

1) Flip a Coin
Type - "Flip a Coin"
Description - Randomly flips a coin to reveal heads or tails.
Uses - Study probability for math

2) Roll a die
Type - "Roll a die"
Description - Randomly rolls a 6-sided die and shows the result
Uses - Study probability for math

3) Definitions
Type - "Define [word]"
Description - Gives the definition of the word, along with origin, use over time, synonyms, antonyms, and more.
Uses - Improve vocabulary, explore origins of words, add diversity to writing

4) Time
Type - "What time is it in [place]"
Description - Gives the time, day, and date of the location.
Uses - Learn about other countries, practice math by finding differences in times

5) Timers
Type - "Timer", "10 second timer", "stopwatch"
Description - sets and runs a countdown timer, or runs a stopwatch
Uses - Set time limit for experiment, group work, assessment, etc.

6) Calculator
Type - "Calculator", or enter the math problem such as "2 times 3"
Description - Opens a functioning calculator
Uses - Calculate data for math problems, science experiments, and more

7) Unit Conversions
Type - "How any [unit1] in a [unit2]" like "How many ounces in a pound" or a search like "5 feet is how many inches"
Description - Opens an interactive conversion tool for area, length, mass, speed, time, and much more.
Uses - Perform or check unit conversions in any subject area, look for patterns in conversions to determine unit relationships

8) Currency Conversions
Type - "currency conversion" or a search like "how many euros in a dollar"
Description - Provides drop down menus to choose the two currencies to convert as well as boxes to type in the amount to convert. Gives the amount in the new currency and displays a graph of historical conversion rates for those currencies.
Uses - Learn about currencies for different countries, explore topics in economics, explore math problems involving money.

9) Area
Type - "Area of a [shape]"
Description - Enter values and find the area of shapes including triangles, rectangles, circles, and more.
Uses - Check math problems, look for patterns to determine relationships between area and side lengths

10) Volume
Type - "Volume of a [solid]"
Description - Enter values and find the volume of solids including cubes, rectangular prisms, cones, pyramids, cylinders, spheres, and more.
Uses - Check math problems, look for patterns to determine relationships between volume and side lengths.

11) Graphing Equations
Type - "y=[linear equation]" such as "y=2x-3" or "graph for x^2"
Description - Enter an equation to get a graph of the equation.
Uses - Graph equations, explore the effect of the equation constants of slope and y-intercept, model real-world problems.

12) Animal Sounds
Type - "what does the [animal] say"
Description - Gives a picture of the animal and plays the sound it makes. Animals include dog, cow, zebra, horse, cat, and more.
Uses - Let young children explore animals.

13) Calories
Type - "how many calories in a [food]"
Description - Gives the calories for a food item, and allows you to switch to other similar foods and a variety of service sizes.
Uses - study nutrition for health, track and calculate calories for math

14) Images
Type - "pictures of [item]" or "pictures of public domain [item]"
Description - Shows thumbnail images of the item searched for, with the option to get more images.
Uses - Students can search for images for various projects, presentations, etc.

15) Translation
Type - "translate" or "what is [word] in [language]"
Description - Gives a box to enter the original word and a menu to choose the new language, then provides a translation and pronunciation. Additionally you can click the microphone to speak the original word.
Uses - Practice vocabulary for a foreign language, or practice fluency by speaking in a foreign language.

16) Public Data
Type - "[metric] of [location]" such as "population of ohio"
Description - Provides public data and interactive graphs for a range of metrics including population, GDP, unemployment, minimum wage, and more.
Uses - Explore, compare, and contrast data from countries for Social Studies, Economics, and Math.

17) Weather
Type - "weather in [location]"
Description - Gives current temperature, precipitation, humidity, and wind for the location, as well as a forecast for the next week.
Uses - Learn about the weather in different countries, study science concepts related to weather.

18) Metronome
Type - "metronome"
Description - Gives an interactive metronome where you can control the beats per minute.
Uses - Learn about beat for music classes, explore multiples in math

19) Stock Prices
Type - "[stock symbol]" such as "goog"
Description - Give the current stock value as well as graphs for historical stock prices for that company.
Uses - Explore stocks and companies for economics, analyze graphs for math.

20) Medical Conditions
Type - "[medical condition]" such as "arthritis"
Description - Gives details on the medical condition including description, symptoms, treatment, and more.
Uses - Learn more about diseases and medical conditions for biology.

Just for Fun
If you want to take a break, feel free to try out some of these special searches. I will leave it up to you to find out what they do.
Type - "do a barrel roll"
Type - "pacman"
Type - "zerg rush"

Conclusion

With instant search cards, Google moves beyond simple search result links to interactive, engaging tools. These don't just provide an answer, but encourage the student to dig deeper and explore more.

Are there other search tools you or your students use to impact teaching and learning? Feel free to share your ideas and resources in the comments below.

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20 Instant Google Searches your Students Need to Know

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Google strives to make their search as useful as possible, bringing back the most appropriate results for the terms you entered. Sometimes though Google goes above and beyond the normal list of search results by providing instant search cards at the top of the page.

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Overview on how to fact-check sources

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Please note: in more recent work, we have updated the language around the moves, and now present them by the acronym SIFT. Updated resources on the SIFT method can be found here.

What people need most when confronted with a claim that may not be 100% true is things they can do to get closer to the truth. They need something I have decided to call "moves."

Moves accomplish intermediate goals in the fact-checking process. They are associated with specific tactics. Here are the four moves this guide will hinge on:

Check for previous work: Look around to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim or provided a synthesis of research.

Go upstream to the source: Go "upstream" to the source of the claim. Most web content is not original. Get to the original source to understand the trustworthiness of the information.

Read laterally: Read laterally. Once you get to the source of a claim, read what other people say about the source (publication, author, etc.). The truth is in the network.

Circle back: If you get lost, hit dead ends, or find yourself going down an increasingly confusing rabbit hole, back up and start over knowing what you know now. You're likely to take a more informed path with different search terms and better decisions.

In general, you can try these moves in sequence. If you find success at any stage, your work might be done.

When you encounter a claim you want to check, your first move might be to see if sites like Politifact, or Snopes, or even Wikipedia have researched the claim (Check for previous work).

If you can't find previous work on the claim, start by trying to trace the claim to the source. If the claim is about research, try to find the journal it appeared in. If the claim is about an event, try to find the news publication in which it was originally reported (Go upstream).

Maybe you get lucky and the source is something known to be reputable, such as the journal Science or the newspaper the New York Times. Again, if so, you can stop there. If not, you're going to need to read laterally, finding out more about this source you've ended up at and asking whether it is trustworthy (Read laterally).

And if at any point you fail-if the source you find is not trustworthy, complex questions emerge, or the claim turns out to have multiple sub-claims-then you circle back, and start a new process. Rewrite the claim. Try a new search of fact-checking sites, or find an alternate source (Circle back).

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Four Moves – Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers

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Please note: in more recent work, we have updated the language around the moves, and now present them by the acronym SIFT. Updated resources on the SIFT method can be found here.

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Short overview on how to evaluate whether a source is useful for you or not.

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The sources you use are an important component of your research. It's important to evaluate the sources you're considering using, in order to:

Ensure that they're credible

Determine whether they're relevant to your topic

Assess the quality of their arguments

You should have a clear idea of your own research question or topic and think critically when evaluating sources.

Evaluating a source's credibility

Evaluating the credibility of a source is an important way of sifting out misinformation and determining whether you should use it in your research. Useful approaches include the CRAAP test and lateral reading.

CRAAP test

One of the best ways to evaluate source credibility is the CRAAP test. This stands for:

Currency: Does the source reflect recent research?

Relevance: Is the source related to your research topic?

Authority: Is it a respected publication? Is the author an expert in their field?

Accuracy: Does the source support its arguments and conclusions with evidence?

Purpose: What is the author's intention?

How you evaluate a source using these criteria will depend on your subject and focus. It's important to understand the types of sources and how you should use them in your field of research.

Lateral reading

Lateral reading is the act of evaluating the credibility of a source by comparing it to other sources. This allows you to:

Verify evidence

Contextualize information

Find potential weaknesses

If a source is using methods or drawing conclusions that are incompatible with other research in its field, it may not be reliable.

Example: Lateral reading
You're reading an article on rates of immigration into the US. The secondary source cites specific figures as evidence that immigration is at an all-time high.
Rather than taking these figures at face value, you decide to determine the accuracy of the source's claims by cross-checking them with official statistics such as census reports and figures compiled by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics.

This way, you can assess whether the source is representing the data accurately, or cherry-picking to give a misleading picture of the situation described in the primary source.

Evaluating a source's relevance

How you evaluate the relevance of a source will depend on your topic, and on where you are in the research process. Preliminary evaluation helps you to pick out relevant sources in your search, while in-depth evaluation allows you to understand how they're related.

Preliminary evaluation

As you cannot possibly read every source related to your topic, you can use preliminary evaluation to determine which sources might be relevant. This is especially important when you're surveying a large number of sources (e.g., in a literature review or systematic review).

One way to do this is to look at paratextual material, or the parts of a work other than the text itself.

Look at the table of contents to determine the scope of the work.

Consult the index for key terms or the names of important scholars.

You can also read abstracts, prefaces, introductions, and conclusions. These will give you a clear idea of the author's intentions, the parameters of the research, and even the conclusions they draw.

Preliminary evaluation is useful as it allows you to:

Determine whether a source is worth examining in more depth

Quickly move on to more relevant sources

Increase the quality of the information you consume

While this preliminary evaluation is an important step in the research process, you should engage with sources more deeply in order to adequately understand them.

Note: When using databases or search engines, you can search keywords using Boolean operators and sort results by "relevance." This will provide results based on the article's title or how many times a keyword appears in a source. While this is a good first step, it can't tell you for sure if a source is actually relevant to your research. You should carefully read the source to determine this.

In-depth evaluation

Begin your in-depth evaluation with any landmark studies in your field of research, or with sources that you're sure are related to your research topic.

As you read, try to understand the connections between the sources. Look for:

Key debates: What topics or questions are currently influencing research? How does the source respond to these key debates?

Major publications or critics: Are there any specific texts or scholars that have greatly influenced the field? How does the source engage with them?

Trends: Is the field currently dominated by particular theories or research methods? How does the source respond to these?

Gaps: Are there any oversights or weaknesses in the research?

Even sources whose conclusions you disagree with can be relevant, as they can strengthen your argument by offering alternative perspectives.

Evaluating a source's arguments

Every source should contribute to the debate about its topic by taking a clear position. This position and the conclusions the author comes to should be supported by evidence from direct observation or from other sources.

Most sources will use a mix of primary and secondary sources to form an argument. It is important to consider how the author uses these sources. A good argument should be based on analysis and critique, and there should be a logical relationship between evidence and conclusions.

To assess an argument's strengths and weaknesses, ask:

Does the evidence support the claim?

How does the author use evidence? What theories, methods, or models do they use?

Could the evidence be used to draw other conclusions? Can it be interpreted differently?

How does the author situate their argument in the field? Do they agree or disagree with other scholars? Do they confirm or challenge established knowledge?

Situating a source in relation to other sources ( lateral reading) can help you determine whether the author's arguments and conclusions are reliable and how you will respond to them in your own writing.

Other interesting articles

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools, citation, and plagiarism, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Frequently asked questions about evaluating sources

What is lateral reading?

Lateral reading is the act of evaluating the credibility of a source by comparing it with other sources. This allows you to:

Verify evidence

Contextualize information

Find potential weaknesses

What makes a source credible?

A credible source should pass the CRAAP test and follow these guidelines:

The information should be up to date and current.

The author and publication should be a trusted authority on the subject you are researching.

The sources the author cited should be easy to find, clear, and unbiased.

For a web source, the URL and layout should signify that it is trustworthy.

What is the CRAAP test?

The CRAAP test is an acronym to help you evaluate the credibility of a source you are considering using. It is an important component of information literacy.

The CRAAP test has five main components:

Currency: Is the source up to date?

Relevance: Is the source relevant to your research?

Authority: Where is the source published? Who is the author? Are they considered reputable and trustworthy in their field?

Accuracy: Is the source supported by evidence? Are the claims cited correctly?

Purpose: What was the motive behind publishing this source?

What is the difference between a scholarly and a popular source?

Scholarly sources are written by experts in their field and are typically subjected to peer review. They are intended for a scholarly audience, include a full bibliography, and use scholarly or technical language. For these reasons, they are typically considered credible sources.

Popular sources like magazines and news articles are typically written by journalists. These types of sources usually don't include a bibliography and are written for a popular, rather than academic, audience. They are not always reliable and may be written from a biased or uninformed perspective, but they can still be cited in some contexts.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the "Cite this Scribbr article" button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Ryan, E. (2023, May 31). Evaluating Sources | Methods & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved October 9, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/evaluating-sources/

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The sources you use are an important component of your research. It's important to evaluate the sources you're considering using, in order to: Ensure that

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Tool to help you create correct citations instantly.

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Copy and paste your text into the online editor, then mark a word or phrase to create a citation in the APA, MLA, or the Chicago (CMOS) format.

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Short overview on how to make your work high quality work!

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Attributes of High-Quality Work | EL Education

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EL Education has named three key attributes of high-quality work: complexity, craftsmanship, and authenticity. The descriptions are intended to provide educators with common vision and terminology as they engage in using student work to improve teaching and learning, be it shorter task work or products that are the result of long-term projects.

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Hand in your updated group reports by Monday, 26.06.

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Look at this if you want to know in detail what the idea behind this project is.

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Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects.

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You will not be graded on your final product, but on your skill progress!