Page 74 - SpringBoard_Writing_Workshop_Grade8_Flipbook

The URL
• What is its domain?
• .com = a for-profit organization
• .gov, .mil, .us (or other country code) = a government site • .edu = an educational institution
• .org = a nonprofit organization
• Is this URL someone’s personal page? (Why might using information from a personal page be a problem?)
• Do you recognize who is publishing this page? If not, you may need to investigate further to determine whether the publisher is an expert on the topic.
Sponsor
• Does the Web site easily give information about the organization or group that sponsors it? • Does it have a link (often called “About Us”) that leads you to that information?
• What do you learn when you visit that link?
Timeliness
• When was the page last updated (usually this is posted at the top or bottom of the page)? • How current a page is may indicate how accurate or useful the information in it will be.
Purpose
• What is the purpose of the page?
• Who is the target audience?
• Does it present information or opinions? • Is it primarily objective or subjective?
• How do you know?
Author
• What credentials does the author have?
• Is this person or group considered an authority on the topic?
Links
• Does the page provide links?
• Do they work?
• Are they helpful?
• Are they objective or subjective?
6. Two ways to record important information and avoid plagiarism are paraphrasing and direct quoting. Read the following passage, and then examine the samples of each type of note taking.
“Words belong to the person who wrote them. There are few simpler ethical notions than this one, particularly as society directs more and more energy and resources towards the creation of intellectual property. In the past thirty years copyright laws have been strengthened. Courts have become more willing to grant intellectual-property protections. Fighting piracy has become an obsession with Hollywood and the recording industry, and in the worlds of academia and publishing, plagiarism has gone from being bad literary manners to something much closer to a crime.
Gladwell, Malcolm. “Something Borrowed,” What the Dog Saw. Little, Brown and Co., New York, 2009, p. 225.
Writing Workshop 6 • Research Writing 7
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