Assignment 4: Website Evaluation

A. FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, is not a reliable website. First, the page in question has not been updated since 2005, which means that much of it's information is probably outdated. Also, it is a bias site seeking to overhaul the US immigration platform to prevent illegal immigration. It only represents one side of the debate on immigration and presents very polarized opinions of the effects of illegal immigration. The FAIR information page gives a clearer picture of the bias of the organization. It describes itself as a "public-interest" organization of people who "share a common belief." This means that only one opinion will be discussed on the website, thus making it unreliable. However, it could be a good site to look at to discuss the various sides of the immigration issue, as long I preface that it is unreliable and make sure the students take everything it says with a grain of salt.
 
B. This immigration blog is very unreliable. This is easy to see because it is a blog, and thus could be controlled by anyone. There is no way to know that the blogger has any credibility in his discussion of immigration. The about and disclaimer page further confirms the unreliability of this site. Although sponsored by an attorney's office, there is a direct statement saying that the attorneys are not experts in the issue of immigration. It also says the information on the site is not guaranteed to be complete, correct, or current. That statement raises all sorts of red flags and I would not use this site in the classroom.

C. The website america.gov is is a reliable website. First, it is run by the State Department, which gives it credibility. Although the history of US immigration page is no longer being updated, because it is historical, there is no need to update it as regularly.

D. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services website is also reliable. It claims on the about us page to provide accurate and useful information. Although the site is mainly for immigrants and potential immigrants, it would serve as a great resource for research in the process of citizenship and other questions about the immigration process.

E. The Onion presents an interesting case. Although I know that it is a parody news website, there is no statement of it's false status and could easily be mistaken as a reliable resource. Therefore, I would probably use this website as an example of an unreliable resource in the classroom in order to make sure that my students don't accidentally fall pray to it's convincing website layout.