INFORMATION LITERACY EVALUATING INFORMATION

Biofuels are increasingly available to consumers at petroleum retailers across the nation. The National Biodiesel Board maintains a website about biodiesel and its use (www.biodiesel.org/Home). Go to that site and explore it by opening each of the tabs at the top of the page.

Evaluate the website and work with the information to answer the following questions:

Question 32.26

What type of information does the site provide under each tab?

Question 32.27

Is this a reliable information source? Does it have a clear and transparent agenda?

  • Who runs the website? Do this person’s/organization’s credentials make the site reliable or unreliable?

  • Is the information on the website up to date? Explain.

Question 32.28

Click on the link that lets you search for retail biodiesel establishments in your state. How many are there? Where are these retailers located? If you wanted to start using biodiesel, would you be able to consistently find a source of biodiesel?

Question 32.29

Explore the “News” link.

  • What types of news stories are presented, and how up-to-date are these stories?

  • Who is the author of these news items? Is this an unbiased source? Explain. How does this affect the credibility of these news items?

  • Are there links to outside sources of information? How does this affect the credibility of these news items?

Question 32.30

If you drove a vehicle that could use biodiesel, would you use it? Why or why not?

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