Information for Parents

Safe Searching on the Internet

Children can learn a lot from the Internet if they are properly trained to use it.

They need to know what information they should not give out about themselves, and should be aware that they should be cautioned to leave inappropriate sites immediately.

The FBI's Web site includes A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety that can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguide.htm.

Sites that will help children understand potential threats on the Web are mentioned in the main section of this Web site's Toolkit.

Plagiarism

It's a good idea to brush up on your knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism and copyright violations, as they are sure to crop up.

The U.S. Copyright Office document titled Copyright Basics can be found at http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html.

How to Evaluate Web Sites

The main section of My Toolkit gives advice to children on evaluating Web sites.

It's a good idea to spend as much time as possible online with your children, and to encourage them to compare the information they find on the Internet with information from other sources, such as books, magazines, newspapers, and CD-ROMs.

As you become familiar with the kinds of sites your children are visiting, you will be able to help them decided which sites are best. Evaluating Internet Resources: A Checklist http://www.infopeople.org/resources/select.html may help your child evaluate sites for homework purposes.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/eval.html gives good examples and a set of criteria for judging sites.