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If it is on the web is it true? Once you get comfortable with searching for information you will find a wide range of information and sources for each topic you research, but that is only part of the job. How do you know the information you found is reliable and accurate? How do you know it is true? Anyone can publish web pages. There are people who make web pages designed to sell you things. They want your money. There are people who make pages because they want you to believe what they believe. They want your mind. There are people who make web pages because they want to sell information to businesses. They want your personal information. There are people who make web pages because they want to share knowledge. They want you to become informed and educated. Which pages must you read with caution and a questioning mind? The answer is simple. ALL OF THEM! You would probably agree with me that about advertising sites, propaganda sites, sites designed to promote hate, and information gathering sites, but you might think it strange that a teacher would tell you to be careful of educational sites that want you to become informed. The problem is that it is often difficult to determine why a site is there. Propaganda and hate sites are often disguised as educational sites. They will tell you lies and use all kinds of tricks to get you to think their way.
Your name and personal information is valuable. People who gather information and compile mailing lists can make big money selling the information. They will often provide information, entertainment, and contests as a way of gathering that information. Even people who only want to provide you with information can mislead you. Not all information is true and accurate. Even people with the best of intentions make mistakes. If they publish those mistakes and people believe them, they can do more harm than good. So the question is how to do find good, true, reliable information and how do you recognize it when you find it? The answer is to develop critical thinking skills. Let's take a look at how you can begin judging the quality of information you find. Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue in Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-three? While preparing a lesson on Columbus Day, I found Professor Hildegard Black's Oddities of History web site*. It had some strange and interesting facts. One said, "Columbus Day is October 12. History tells us Columbus landed in America on October 12, 1492, but did you know it was NOT 1492? It was really 1493!"
Isn't that an interesting set of facts? If you think so, do not go running to tell your History teacher just yet. It may be interesting, but it is also false! Internet is full of wonderful, interesting, and incorrect information. I gave you wrong information to make a point. You cannot believe everything you read. Finding information is just part of your job. If you found the errors in the Columbus story or doubted its truth as you read, you may be well on your way to being a critical thinker. If you believed it simply because it appeared in this book, you may need to sharpen your critical thinking skills. Let's see what a critical thinker might do with Professor Black's information. A critical thinker might ask some of the questions below. 1) Who printed the information? Nowhere on the site did it tell anything about Professor Black. That doesn't mean the professor isn't real, but without more information it's possible the professor could be a fifth grader having some fun. I did a search at HotBot and at Four11 for Hildegard Black, but couldn't find anything useful. A critical thinker would begin to doubt the information, but I still can't say there is no professor or that the information is wrong. 2) Is the person an expert? How do you know? I found nothing to convince me the professor is an expert, or even a real professor. 3) Is there a way to check on the author? Do they have a phone number or an address? (An email address is often not enough) There was an email address. Anyone can set up an email account using any user name they choose. There was no other contact information. I did not have much faith in the professor at this point. 4) Is the author trying to convince you of something? Are you getting all the facts or are some being withheld? It seems as if she is expecting me to believe her odd facts, but she did not give me many details. 5) Does the author state the source of the information or is just his or her opinion? There was no source of information mentioned. By this point it doesn't look very good for the professor or the information. 6) Can you find other places with the same information? I couldn't find any information about a calendar change in 1492 or 1493. 7) Are there any obvious errors or things that don't add up? Here's the point where good research and critical thinking skills could have settled the question immediately. Since the object of research is to become well informed, the researcher should be learning about Columbus. If you know about Columbus, you would know he was born in Portugal but sailed for Spain. When he returned, he didn't land in Portugal. He landed in Spain, and Queen Isabella was the queen of Spain, not Portugal. Even if everything else was true, one poor fact can throw doubt on all of the accurate ones. There is a lesson here for those of you who are going to post information on the Internet. Make sure your facts are accurate. Besides these obvious errors, there are other things that don't add up. For instance, if Portugal had recalculated the calendar, wouldn't everyone else in Europe also change their calendar? In that case it would have been a major event in history and we would be able to find information easily. If the rest of Europe didn't change, today Portugal would have a different calendar than the rest of Europe. I think it's safe to say Professor Black's site in not a good one to use for research. Are you starting to get the idea about critical thinking? Not all poor information will be as easy to identify as this.
* This was not a real web site. It was created as an illustration. |
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Advertising is often mixed in with educational material related to the product they are trying to sell. They will often tell you only one side of the story to get you to think their way. 
"While Columbus was crossing the ocean, Portuguese
scientists recalculated the calendar. They added two months. The King made it law BEFORE Columbus landed. When Columbus landed he thought it was October 12, 1492, but back in Portugal it was really January 12, 1943. He had
a real shock when he landed in Portugal to report to Queen Isabella." 