Detecting Author Bias/agenda

By Author: Amandda
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Along with helping students see the value of corroborating information, I also wanted them to recognize the importance of considering the author behind the information. People publish on the Internet for many Tag Heuer Replica reasons, and not all of these are noble or altruistic. Recognizing authors who might have bias or a hidden agenda can be particularly challenging for students, so I adapted ideas from Howe's and Harris's sites to form a series of questions the students could ask themselves about a site and its author:
1. Who is the author? What do you learn from a Google search on him or her (or the organization that sponsors the site)?
2. What do you think is the author's purpose in publishing this information? Does the purpose seem legitimate or trustworthy?
3. Is the author (or the website) trying to sell something? Is there a product attached to the information or commentary on the site?
4. Examine use of language in the website. Are any of the words used particularly hateful or provocative? Does the author (through his or her words) ...
... seem to be trying to incite you to a strong emotional reaction?
5. Does the content of the site seem to be largely opinion, or do you see a fair amount of facts that you can corroborate?

To practice using these questions, I walked students through carefully selected pages of "Martin Luther King, Jr.—A True Historical Examination" . (This site, while it purports to be an objective presentation of information about Martin Luther King Jr., is actually a highly biased, hate-filled diatribe against the civil rights leader. I carefully selected pages from this site because not all of the content is appropriate for younger students.) First, we looked together at some initial markers of the site. We noticed that the site sports a clean-looking layout with professional-looking titles and images. When we examined the front page together as a class, we saw links to King's historical writings, pages about his dream and what he died for, and suggested books on King. Much of the language we saw on the homepage seemed respectful and objective, with phrases such as "Bring the dream to life" or "Watch the new Martin Luther King educational video." Along the bottom of the homepage, a prominent graphical link composed of famous historical Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Replica Watches images of the civil rights era lead many students to believe this site part of the "Civil Rights Library," a reputable-sounding institution— but one that we made a note to investigate further. In many ways, this site seemed to pass our examination of initial markers.