Testing the Validity of a Website

Most modern day students resort to the internet to do research. Well, why should't they? Using a search engine to find information is quick, simple, and high yielding. Unfortunately, not all of the information posted online is reliable or accurate, which is why the knowledge of how to test the validity of a website is crucial to anyone who does Google searching.

Before you start researching, you'll need to know what information you'll be looking for the most. For many topics, it's best to start out with "who, what, when, where, why?", as well as any other information that seems interesting.

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• Other:

Now, the second step is to look at your search results and find the sites that look promising. These are the ones you'll go to first. Also, preview some of websites, if you're not sure. 

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Here are some tips that'll help you filter out which sites you want to use, and which sites you don't:

• NEVER use wikis! they can be edited by anyone and any sort of irrelevant information can be posted on them!
• Well known sites or organizations that you may have heard of before will most likely be trustable.
• Do not use websites that are biased, for example something that was created to promote a certain political party, or talk trash about another.
• ".org", ".gov", or ".edu" websites are good sources to consider.
• If using an unfamiliar website, check what the author of the article/site is. If that author has credentials like college degrees or job experience, the information he or she provides will most likely be reliable.
• While in the search engine, read the URLs. Websites with URLs related to your topic are worth checking out.
• Read the website descriptions, so you can skip over anything irrelevant. For example, when one Google searches "civil war", one of the results is the homepage of a band, not information on a historical event.
• Sometimes, visual clues can show you whether a site is reliable or not. If a website has distracting, inappropriate, or popup ads, it's usually not a good source. If a site looks amateurishly designed or difficult to navigate, it is probably best ignored as well.
• Pretty much any website made for the sole purpose of kids or education is dependable- so an easy way to get basic information about anything is to write "for kids" after the keywords for whatever you're searching for.
• Is the information current? Some topics will require up to date information, such as world events or science, since topics like these are always changing.
• If the grammar on a site is insufficient or the sentences choppy, it was cleary not written by someone who knew what they were doing.
• Of course,one must also use common sense. If the information seems weird or incorrect, don't trust it right away! Instead, find backup in other sources.

After you've found some trusty sources for your research, gather the information you need. A good way to do this is to read the headings of each paragraph, of find any words in the article that are emphasized (large, bold, italics, underlined, different color, etc.). These words may give you a clue about what its context contains. Sometimes, it's more appropriate to actually read an article and find details, while other times, skimming will save time and eliminate surplus information.

The web plays a major role in our lives today, including our educations. It may be large and not extremely organized, but with the right tools and knowledge, anyone can make it safer, easier to use, and more beneficial to their personal needs.

Bully

Do you want to be the reason
Why
She cries behind closed doors
With the lights off
Late into the night
When the world sleeps?

Do you want to be the reason
Why
Instead of a proud smile
She lowers her head
And hides her face
When her name is posted
Big and shining on the wall?

Do you want to be the reason
Why
She suppresses her ambition
And hides her dreams
Until they disappear
On their own?

Shatter- First Draft

Another bomb explodes in the air. There is fire. Desks, potted plants, paperwork in manila folders. Objects fall, reminiscences of normal human life. That is in the past now. Ash swirls down like gray snow.

There is deafening noise. It pounds in my ears, leaves ringing that bounces back and forth in my skull. People scream tortured, anguished screams from the ground. I dare not look. A man flies down from a burning building. I see that he has black, black hair and a gray tweed suit. He wears no shoes, only red socks.

Even through the window, I can smell smoke. It stinks, like rotten eggs or decaying garbage.

I feel guilty for being here, alive, safe. Whole. Where is Lucas? Where is an older brother when you need one? Lucas is big and strong. He is thirteen years old. In past summers, we would laugh in the shade and run in the grass. That was only two years ago. It seems ages away.

I start to cry. "It isn't fair!" I wail into the gray wall. A mistake.

"SHUSH!" the whitecoat thunders from the other room. He strides in. "Do you want us to be discovered?" he hisses.

Then, he noticed my tears. I try to brush them away, feeling embarrassed. "Now, hush hush Maria." the whitecoat says in a softer tone, bending down to give me a hug, " you're lucky to be here."

The hug leaves me with a strange, chemical smell in my lungs. It's what everyone says, I think. "You're lucky to be here." I wonder if I really am. I certainly wouldn't want to be out there. The whitecoat walks away.

"I don't want to be here," the words come out barely a whisper. As soon as I say it, It sounds wrong. Ungrateful. Another message bleeps in my brain. 'You are lucky to be alive. They made sacrifices for you. Now you must do the same.' The voice is cold and electronic. I wonder whose voice it is. Why does it sound like that? How does it know everything?

Five years pass by. The war rages on. The messages still bleep in her head. Maria has lost track of time.

The white rat sees the girl again. She is afraid, he thinks. She does not know what will happen. The rat sighs and climbs to the rim of his food dish for a better view. He has been observing the girl for quite a while now. She has dark, short hair trimmed once a week by the ones in white.

Despite everything, the rat is fond of the ones in white. They have given me what no rat has possessed before, he thinks. Intelligence. The rat knows that he possesses amazing capabilities and emotions that no rat has ever felt before.

Because of this, he knows. He knows what will happen to the girl, who is entering the incubation chamber. He knows that he will see her again in five years, when she will emerge. He knows he will be right in his cage, right by the barred window when she emerges.


Perhaps, just perhaps, thinks the mouse, I may just have met my match. At this he shuddered, and retreated to his burrow under the fiberglass shavings.

:)

The research says
That every child
Is born into this world
Knowin' how to smile.
And you gotta
be taught to frown.
Well whoever taught me
Taught me well
'Cause I've been
Frowning for a while.
Wonder when's the next time
I'm gonna smile.


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ENIAC: The Father of Computers

Covering 1800 square feet of floor space and weighing over 30 tons, the ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Intergrator and Computer, made history in 1946 as the world's general purpose electronic computer. At the time, it was frequently heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain" When the ENIAC first came out, it was over a thousand times faster than any calculating machine to date and could solve 5,000 additions, 357 multiplications or 38 divisions within a second. It could also predict weather and do a variety of scientific tasks. What made the ENIAC special was that it was the first truly universal computing device, unlike any other machine before. Some of the ENIAC's competitors, such as the Z3 and the ABC were far slower and were capable of solving only small problems.

However, what is known as ENIAC's biggest accomplishment was how it sparked the imaginations of scientists and industrialists worldwide. It inspired many to attempt to create even more powerful devices. Many scientists and engineers raced to create faster, smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more advanced hardware. Within a few years, computers were popping up everywhere- universities, government agencies, banks and insurance companies.

Though it wasn't extremely powerful, the ENIAC was a huge advance leap from any computing device of its time. More importantly, it revolutionized computers and greatly influenced the development of later computers.