Q CSIT 100 1 Final Project CSIT 100 Section 30 Final Course Project: Webography Phase 2: FINDING RELEVANT SITES ON THE INTERNET & EVALUATING INTERNET SITES Assigned: Friday, September 17, 2021 Due: Monday, November 1, 2021 By 11:00 PM NOTE: Phase Two represents 30% of the Project’s overall grade. Submit on time! No submissions will be accepted after the due date. PLAGIARISM on any section of the Project will result in a 0 grade for the project. CSIT 100 2 Final Project Note: The goal/objective of the Final Course project is threefold: ? To learn about and gain an in-depth knowledge of your approved topic (and its subtopics) ? To develop the skill of being able to perform meaningful, effective, and efficient online searches ? To develop the skill of successfully researching a topic, critically evaluating the information, and successfully presenting and communicating the information professionally both in written form and orally. The Webography project emphasizes (1) finding and evaluating information on the Internet, (2) organizing the sources in a database, (3) making a webpage using the information collected and (4) presenting the research in a minipresentation. Searching Searching is an important aspect of this project. You must source all the information for your project from the web. You must use at least 2 search engines (such as google.com, bing.com, yahoo.com, dogpile.com, askjeeves.com, altavista.com) to source the information for your project. As you research your topic, evaluate the relevance of the first page of hits, and record the three to five sites most relevant to the subtopic in a table in Excel. The table should include (1) the subtopic, (2) the original search string, (3) the actual search string (if the search was refined compared to the search string formulated before), (4) the index (search tool) used to find this URL, (5) and finally the URL for the site. It may include other bibliographic information such as title, authors, date of last update, and search date. Web Site Evaluation Evaluate the sites from the previous step for credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and support. Check the following websites for clues on how to evaluate websites for the validity of the material they provide: • http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/english/allwrite3/seyler/ssite/seyler/se0 3/cars.mhtml • http://andyspinks.com/evaluating-websites/ • http://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/writing_center/wc_files/handout_masters/CARS %20Checklist%20for%20Evaluating%20Sources.pdf • http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm • https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webeval_start.html CSIT 100 3 Final Project • http://www.lib.umd.edu/tl/guides/evaluating-web • https://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webeval.html • http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html • http://www.lib.vt.edu/instruct/evaluate/ • http://www.asha.org/sitehelp/websites.htm • https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webeval.html • http://usm.maine.edu/library/checklist-evaluating-web-resources • http://www2.lib.unc.edu/instruct/evaluate/?section=websites Prepare a brief written evaluation of each website you use as a reference. These evaluations are submitted in a word document along with the information collected and recorded in the “Searching” part above. You will do research on and gather detailed information about your approved topic and its subtopics in phase 2 of the project as follows: NOTE: you need to gather and collect information relating to your topic and its subtopics. The amount of information you collect should give you at least 2,000 words of edited text and writing for Phase IV (not for this phase). 1. Search strategy formulation: • For each subtopic, formulate a search strategy by selecting a keyword string (with proper Boolean operators) that could be used to search for information about your particular subtopic(s). Your strategy must include alternative keywords that could limit or broaden your search. 2. Finding/Searching for relevant sites: • You must use at least two different search tools. Evaluate the relevance of the first page of hits, and record the three to five sites most relevant to the subtopic in a table for use in the next phase. The table should include (1) the subtopic, (2) the original search string, (3) the actual search string (if the search was refined compared to the search string formulated before), (4) the index used to find this URL, (5) and finally the URL for this site. The table may include other bibliographic information such as title, authors, date of last update, and search date. 3. Evaluation of sites: (using CARS guidelines) • Evaluate some of the sites from the previous step for credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and support (see CSIT 100 4 Final Project www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm). Prepare a brief written evaluation of each site. The style of an evaluation should be similar to a review of a book or article in a magazine. • Now that your topic and subtopics have been approved by your professor, you will create a set of keywords that matches every approved subtopic in phase one of this project. • When creating keywords, if it consists of two or more words, you should use proper search string construction techniques and Boolean operators and/or double quotation marks to create the “best possible” search string. • You must at least select/use two “search tools” – directory, search engine, meta search engine, hybrid search engine - to perform your search. Some examples are Yahoo, Google, Dogpile, Ask, Bing, AltaVista, Kartoo. • For every subtopic, evaluate the relevance of the first page of hits for a search tool. Check the first 3 hits. If the first 3 hits are not relevant to your subtopic, then proceed with the next three or five, and so on. In the event that none of the sites are relevant to your subtopic, try using a different keyword/search string to search for a subtopic. • Compute the relevancy score for those 3 web sites, using the C.A.R.S. guidelines/test. • Select the most relevant site to that particular subtopic, based on the highest relevancy score. To compute the relevancy score, apply the following formula: Relevancy score = Credibility + Accuracy + Reasonableness + Support Note: if a site gets a relevancy score of 0 or less (negative number), discard it immediately. • After obtaining the most relevant site(s) for each of your subtopics with a particular search tool, repeat the same process with your second search tool for other subtopics. For example, if you have three subtopics, you will end up with at least 3 relevant sites, divided across different search tools. Remember that sites with high relevancy scores are preferred. • You should end up with at least (assuming you have three approved subtopics): 3 relevant sites. If you use different sites for different subtopics, then you will end up with more relevant sites. CSIT 100 5 Final Project • Record/save your work for submission in phase 3. At a minimum, you must include the following information for each site: o Title of the site (its name) o Author of the site o Publisher of the site (if any) o Copyright date of the site (if any) o URL address of the site o Your subtopic associated with the site o Internet keyword/search string used to find the site o Credibility score o Accuracy score o Reasonableness score o Support score o Relevancy score for the site o Search tool that found that particular site o CARS evaluation of each site and CARS discussion EVALUATING INTERNET RESEARCH SOURCES THE C.A.R.S. TEST An Example Note: the following is just an example. Do NOT use the same numbers/scores for your evaluation. CREDIBILITY o Author is anonymous (-1) o Author has credentials (+3) o Bad grammar or misspelled words (-1) o Author has contact information (+1) o Author's position (job function, title) (+2) o Negative criticism of the entire subject (-2) Compute a score for credibility. Credibility = -1 + 3 - 1 + 1 + 2 – 2 = 2 ACCURACY o No date on the document (-1) o Vague or sweeping generalizations (-1) o Very one sided view that does not acknowledge opposing views or respond to them (-2) CSIT 100 6 Final Project o Information is up to date (+1) o Information is comprehensive (+3) o Information is objective and presents both sides of the issue (+3) Compute a score for accuracy. Accuracy = -1 - 1 – 2 + 1 + 3 + 3 = 3 REASONABLENESS o Religious, Political or Economical influence on the writer (-1) o Intemperate tone or language ("stupid jerks," "shrill cries of my extremist opponents") (-2) o Conflict of Interest (- 2). This shows lacks of objectivity. Example: ? "Welcome to the Old Stogie Tobacco Company Home Page. To read our report, 'Cigarettes Make You Live Longer,' click here." or "The products our competitors make are dangerous and bad for your health." o Information is consistent and doesn’t contradict itself (+3) o Objectivity (+4) o Likelihood or probability of the information (+2) Compute a score for reasonableness. Reasonableness = -1 -2 -2 + 3 + 4 + 2 = 4 SUPPORT o No contact information is supplied (-1) o Numbers or statistics presented without an identified source for them (-2) o You cannot find any other sources that present the same information or acknowledge that the same information exists (lack of corroboration) (-2) o Contact information is supplied. (+1) o Statistics is properly documented (+2) o The author’s information can be corroborated from at least two independent valid sources (+2) o Valid sources to support the author’s statements, (Author’s Bibliography). (+2) Compute a score for support. Support = -1 – 2 – 2 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 2 CSIT 100 7 Final Project Important points to remember: • You MUST work and do research on your approved topic and its subtopics. You may not add to/remove from your approved subtopics, or change/modify your topic and its subtopics in any form or shape. • You MUST do your own original work on the approved topic and its subtopics. Some other students in the same section as you, or in the other current sections of CSIT100, or students who have taken this course in the past might have selected the same topic and subtopics. You should NOT use their work in any shape or form and you should NOT copy/submit other people’s work as your own. Doing so is plagiarism and will automatically result in a grade of zero on the Final Course project (the department has all past and present CMPT109 projects). Other than evaluating websites, you need to gather and collect information relating to your topic and its subtopics. The amount of information you collect should give you at least 2,000 words of edited text and writing for Phase IV. For an example of what you need to submit for Phase II, Please refer to the “Example Document” posted on Canvas under Phase II documents. You must submit this phase as a PDF document. NOTE: Phase Two represents 30% of the Project overall grade. Submit on time! No submissions will be accepted after the due date.