Exploring the Internet Using Critical Thinking Skills: A Self-paced Workbook for Learning to Effectively Use the Internet and Evaluate Online Information

As the amount - and quality - of information available on the Internet continues to expand dramatically, students not only need to learn Internet searching skills, but to develop literacy and critical thinking skills as well. This workbook uses active larning to help students discover how to find information on the Net, and assess the accuracy and relevance of all information they retrieve. Incorporating easy-to-follow explanations, graphic illustrations, eight hands-on practice sessions, and dozens of screen captures, the book teaches students - at their own pace - how to: develop efficient search strategies; analyze evidence, assumptions, and logical arguments in Internet sources; and use appropriate citation styles. Covered are: an overview of online information; learning to be a critical thinker; evaluating Internet information sources; searching on the Web; identifying bias, manipulative use of information, personal opinion, and currency of Internet information; and a discussion of Netiquette and citation styles for Listserv messages, World Wide Web, Gopher sites, FTP sites, and Usenet groups.