Validating a Site

On our assessment third session, we (Karina and me) were asked to validate a site of our choice according to certain requirements such as accuracy, authority, currency and objectivity. To me, this is of great importance for me as a teacher and as a student because the Internet offers thousands of sites, many of which are not reliable as learning resources.

The following is our analysis on the Merrian-Webster site.

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq/history.htm

Being Merriam-Webster one of the authorities in the field of the language, we thought the information and contents provided would be accurate enough.

We can corroborate the authenticity of the said site by looking at the logo, the credentials referring to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the accuracy of the vocabulary which is definitely related to the topic, and the URL.

3)As regards objectivity, we both thought the vocabulary used in the present site is as free from bias as it can be, because the topic is inherently related to facts and the few ads which appear are strongly related to teaching languages and technological appliances sponsored by Merrian-Webster.

4) There are no dead links in the present page, and this tells us that the site is regularly updated and looked at.

5) There is no special software and no fees are required to have access to the present page.

To conclude: we believe this site is valid as a research source on the origins of the English language for either students or teachers.