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Investigating Criteria That Seventh Graders Use to Evaluate the Quality of Online Information
Author(s) -
Coiro Julie,
Coscarelli Carla,
Maykel Cheryl,
Forzani Elena
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of adolescent and adult literacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1936-2706
pISSN - 1081-3004
DOI - 10.1002/jaal.448
Subject(s) - psychology , quality (philosophy) , sample (material) , reliability (semiconductor) , mathematics education , point (geometry) , stratified sampling , computer science , statistics , mathematics , power (physics) , philosophy , chemistry , physics , geometry , epistemology , chromatography , quantum mechanics
This article presents qualitative findings from a study that examined the types of criteria that middle school students use to evaluate the quality of online information and sources for a Web‐based research assignment. Open‐constructed responses from four critical evaluation items were compiled from diverse seventh graders in a representative, two‐state, stratified random sample ( n = 773). Content analysis revealed that many students used a range of unacceptable or superficial criteria to determine the author of a website and whether that author is an expert, to state the author's point of view, and to provide reasoned evidence about the overall reliability of a website. Criteria and evidence patterns that students used for each of the critical evaluation tasks are shared, as well as implications for instruction.