# Web Search and Evaluation

### Summary
Overwhelmed by the quantity of information out there? Joyce Valenza explains what the most efficient and reliable way is to detect if a website is credible or not. She includes tips such as: checking URLs, corroborate with multiple sources, being suspicious of pictures, verifying the about me sections of the authors, among others.

Hence why I decided to dig a little deeper on Joyce Valenza. She is an Associate Professor of Teaching at Rutgers University, School of Communication. She has also written 5 books, all surrounding the topic of researching tools. I verified this information with multiple sources such as the School Library Journal, her own personal website, and Media Education Lab. This makes me believe that the tips and tricks that she included in the "Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world" is reliable.

This information correlates to what was written the Berkley Library. They also mention the importance to question the sources cited, the date when it was published and relevance of the information to your own personal research. These readings have opened my eyes as I thought that I could identify a uncredible source just by looking at it. These are definitely steps that I will use when investigating topics for future papers as well as obtaining information about current events from the news.

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### Google Search

**Northeastern University**

To see how many pages mention "Northeastern University"
- I typed "Northeastern University" on the *"all these words"* and *"this exact word or phrase"* in Google's Advanced search
- I got **8,160,000** results that mentioned "Northeastern University"

**Skate fish**

To see how many pages mention "skate fish" but not "ice rink"
- I typed "skate fish" on the *"all these words"* and *"this exact word or phrase"* and "ice rink" *none of these words* in Google's Advanced search
- I got **98,000** results that mentioned "Northeastern University"

**Northeastern Huskies**

To see how many pages mention "Northeastern Huskies" from the first day of 2001 through the last day of 2002
- I typed "Northeastern Huskies" on the *"all these words"* and *"this exact word or phrase"* in Google's Advanced search.
- Then a set a custom range from 01/01/2001 to 12/31/2002
- I got 24 results that mentioned "Northeastern University"

**Top Image**

Find the top image of of a pair of penguins with a “free to use, share or modify, even commercially” license, sometimes referred to as “labeled for reuse with modification.”
- I typed "pair of penguins" on Google Images and then selected *"commercial and other licenses*" on the *Tools* tab
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## Web Credibility

Page with questionable credibility: http://planetfacts.net/#:~:text=There%20are%20eight%20planets%20that,been%20declassified%20as%20a%20planet


**Why it's not credible**

- No date of publication
- No authors name or biography
- No citation of sources
- No evidence of being updated
- URL ends with .net
- Outdated design

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## Wikipedia Evaluation


The "Joseph Reagle" website is not reliable as it does not include these aspects on its citations:
- The piece of work itself (the article, book)
- The creator of the work (the writer, journalist)
- The publisher of the work (for example, Random House or Cambridge University Press

Furthermore, the policy of verifiability states that in Wikipedia anyone can check and confirm that information comes from a reliable source. It also states how anyone can edit information, further highlighting how the material cannot be trusted. This can be seen on the statement of professor Reagle's website that mentions that his Good Faith Collaboration is a "bestselling book." This is because there are no links to verify that this information is true.
On the other hand, there are some aspects that can be verified. This can be seen when professor Reagle mentions that he worked at the World Wide Web Consortium because the Wikipedia page links his profile in the W3 Website.