Shafer Library Research Group

Google Books

type in a key word and the word "kid" after it. Doing so pulls up results for younger students.

checking whether its URL ends in a .com, .org, .gov, or .edu.

a lesson called "Whodunit," which takes students to various sites and has them answer questions about who wrote the information, what their credentials are, and who is sponsoring the site.

a checklist to help students decide whether sites are credible. It includes questions such as: Are there dead links? Do images support the stated facts? Are there links and references to other websites, and resources and experts that corroborate the information?

language comes on too strong and the attempt is to persuade readers how to think

teaching a media-literacy unit

"If you don't take time to do it, the kids aren't going to be giving you their best work,"

integrated searching into her classroom by creating a classroom job of "searcher." That student's responsibility was to search the Internet for answers to questions that would come up during the day's class. Ms. Shaw used that approach as an opportunity to talk about strategies for good online research.

Teachers should give credit to the process of searching, not just for the final product, she added. Students can turn in search logs or annotated bibliographies to emphasize that process.

it's vital to reinforce those skills repeatedly in working with students.

Every context is different.

predict the results they expect to see when they type in search terms,

November 2012, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project released a study that surveyed 2,067 Advanced Placement and National Writing Project teachers.

You need precise words

while most teachers agreed that the Internet provides a wealth of information to students, they also said students often don't have the digital-literacy skills to wade through that information.

skim search results for words that pop up, especially unfamiliar words.

For instance, if a student wanted to find information on immigrants who send money back to their home countries, the term "remittances"

quotation marks around their search terms to get results that include the exact wording

minus sign eliminates something from a search.