Boston Public Library
Using the Internet for School Reports

Kids

1. Who put this information on the Internet?

When you are looking for information on the Internet, it is very important to find out who is providing the information you see. If you look at the bottom of this page, you will see a small picture of a bear, the words "Back to the BPL," and our e-mail address. You can tell that the BPL, or Boston Public Library, put this information here by reading what is at the bottom of the page.

At the top of the page, you can also look at our Web address, http://www.bpl.org, and find out a little bit about us. Addresses that use the letters ".org" (such as www.bpl.org) belong to organizations like libraries, museums, and non-profit groups. Some addresses use ".com" (such as www.disney.com) and those are businesses. You might see a page that says, "Buy the exciting new Space Adventure Action Figures! The best action figures you can buy!" If the address on the page is www.toy-store.com, you might want to find out more about these action figures before you buy them. The "toy-store" company probably put that information on the Internet to help them sell their toys. Other addresses you see might use ".edu" (for schools and colleges), ".gov" (for the U.S. government), and ".mil" (for the U.S. military).

Questions you should ask about who provided the information are: Is this person (or group or company) an expert in the subject they are talking about? Are they trying to sell something? Are they trying to make you believe something? Would you find information like this in a book or a magazine? Does this person give information about themselves, such as an e-mail address, so that you could ask them questions? Is the information the opinion of only one person (or group)? Do you think the information provider is serious or are they playing a prank?

2. When was it put there? Is there a date on the page?

If you see a page that says "Today's News," you expect it to be about things that happened today. On the Internet, information you find will sometimes be old, though it says "news" or "today" or even "February." Try to find a date on the page. Sometimes at the bottom of the page, there will be a line that says, "This page updated on:" and give you a date. Get the month and year the information was put there if you can, and for real news stories, get the exact date.

 

3. Is the information meant to be serious, or is it a joke? How can you tell?

Did you know that Senator Bob Dole, who ran for president, has two home pages on the Internet? One is his real page, with true information, and the other page is a joke put there by someone else. It can be hard to tell a real page from a fake (or prank) page. Look for clues: If the page is about a person, is his or her name spelled in a funny way? Is there a photo or other picture that the person might not have wanted people to look at (because it's silly or makes them look dumb)? Are there invented names or links, or words that sound like they aren't real? Are they saying or offering things that might be impossible, like "win a free trip to the moon"? Read a page carefully to look for clues to whether it might be fake.

If you have e-mail, you might have seen e-mail pranks, or "hoaxes." A hoax happens when someone sends a false e-mail message. They think it is funny because people might believe it is true. For example, in early 1996 there was a hoax saying that the Internet would have to be shut down for cleaning! This is impossible, but many people didn't understand that it was false. If you are not sure about something you read on the Internet, ask someone else for advice.

4. How do you know where this information comes from? Does the page list any sources for the information?

In books about true subjects, there is usually a page at the end saying where the writer got his or her information. Sometimes you will see this on the Internet, too. If you find a page with lots of charts and information about Boston, it might say "City of Boston Census Figures." Or maybe you find a famous poem, which says "by Robert Frost, 1962." You should include these sources in your school report. If there are lots of quotes or charts on a page and there is no information about where these came from, be careful in using them. Try to find out more about this information, or ask a librarian for advice.

 

5. Is the information biased? Does it only give one opinion?

Many people can put information on the Internet. It doesn't cost much, and it isn't very hard to have your own home page that says anything you want it to say. Imagine you knew a kid in school whom you didn't like, and you decided to put insults and ugly pictures you drew of that kid on your home page. Just because it's on the Internet, on your home page, doesn't mean it's true. There are many things on the 'Net that are put there by one person or group that has a certain opinion. Sometimes this information is biased, which means it doesn't give you all the information and opinions you might like to know about. Once in a while, you might even find something that is really mean and hateful toward a person or group of people. Remember that, just as with magazines or books, you shouldn't believe everything you find on the Internet. Ask for help if you're not sure.

 

6. Who is the information meant for?

If you are looking for an easy explanation of how the heart works, and find a page on the Internet called "Double Bypass Heart Surgical Procedures on Congenitally Diabetic Patients", this is not going to be something you can use. That information is probably meant for doctors, not for kids and students. When you find something on the Internet, before taking lots of time to write it down, print it out, or add it to your bibliography, read it through to find out if it's written at a level you can understand.

 

7. What type of information is it? Is it a home page or an e-mail message?

You can get information from the Internet in many different ways: World Wide Web pages, gopher files, e-mail discussions, and so on. When doing research, any of these might be helpful, but you should be very careful about using e-mail. If you send questions by e-mail to an expert who can help you on a difficult subject, and they send you an e-mail reply, it's a neat way to get information for a school report. But if you find someone else's old e-mail message that has been put on a World Wide Web page, it might not be as useful. Because you may not know who sent the e-mail, who replied to it, whether the reply was from an expert, or when any of this happened, it's difficult to tell if the information is true. If you aren't sure, check with a parent, teacher, or librarian.

 

8. How should you list information from the Internet on your bibliography?

First you need to find out: who put the information on the Internet, what is the name of the page or file you have been reading, when it was put on the Internet or updated (or when you read it, if you can' find any other date), and what the Internet address is. For example, imagine you would like to include this page in your bibliography. You can see from the words on the very bottom of this page that this is the BPL, or Boston Public Library, Kids. The BPL put this information on the Internet. At the top of the page is the name: "Using the Internet for School Reports." By checking the date at the bottom of the page, you might also be able to find out that this information was put here, or last updated,  in March, 2001. The Internet address for this site can be seen in the address line of the browser: http://www.bpl.org/KIDS/Evaluate.html.

Different teachers may want you to list Internet information in your bibliography in different ways. Ask your teacher how he or she would like you to do it. Here is one way you can do it:

Name of Person (or Group) Who Provides the Information. "Title of Page You Are Looking At." Internet Address. Date Page Was Posted, Updated, or Read.

So the entry for this page would be:

Boston Public Library. "Using the Internet for School Reports." http://www.bpl.org/KIDS/Evaluate.htm. July, 2001.