Part of a set of university teaching materials called "Encouraging Critical Thinking Online" by Meriel Patrick of Oxford University, made openly available for adaptation and re-use in the Intute Virtual Training Suite <http: />

1. Encouraging Critical
Thinking Online
Unit 1
Checking Facts and
Gathering Opinions

2. When and what were the
‘Burning Times’? How many
people died as a result?
• Find a selection of websites that
address this question
• Record your search strategy and
what you find on the worksheet
• Comment on any notable features
of the sites or answers you discover

3. When and what were the
‘Burning Times’?
• The phrase refers to the
persecution of people accused of
witchcraft in the early modern
period (ca. 1450-1700)
– A Google search for define:“Burning
Times” produces a range of
definitions, including this glossary

4. When and what were the
‘Burning Times’?
• However:
– In England and America, most people
convicted of witchcraft were hanged
– In Scotland and on the continent,
burning was more common, but
victims were rarely burnt alive – they
were usually executed by other means
first

5. When and what were the
‘Burning Times’?
• Many academics prefer to avoid the
term
– Instead, more neutral terms such as
‘early modern persecution of witches’
or ‘witch hunts’ are preferred
– But the term is still in frequent use in
the neo-Pagan community

6. How many people died as a
result?
• Some popular estimates are as high
as nine million
• Most scholarly investigations put
the figure at a few tens of
thousands
– Many websites reflect the scholarly
research, but there are also sites
which still give inflated figures

7. Example websites giving high
estimates
• The website Witch Prickers
suggests “a maximum estimate of
13 million dead and a minimum
estimate of 4 million”
• Wiccan Terms and Definitions and
the Wiccan Dictionary both suggest
nine million

8. Example websites giving lower
estimates
• Religious Tolerance.org suggests
between 50,000 and 100,000
• The article
‘Falsehoods of the Burning Times’
suggests 60,000
• Wicca: For the Rest of Us suggests
between 40,000 and 100,000

9. Compare and contrast
• Look at the example sites and
consider:
– Other than in the figures they give,
how do these sites differ?
– Who wrote these sites? What are their
credentials?
– Are sources/references given?

10. Compare and contrast
• There is a significant difference in
tone
– Articles quoting higher numbers often
use more emotive language
– Those giving lower numbers are
frequently couched as attempts to set
the record straight

11. Compare and contrast
• There may also be a marked
difference in the picture painted
– Sites giving higher numbers are more
likely to identify the victims as Pagans
or followers of ‘the Old Religion’
– The Catholic Church is more likely to
be blamed

12. Compare and contrast
• However, sites giving lower
estimates are not immune from
error
– For example, Religious Tolerance.org
implies that alleged witches were
routinely burned alive

13. Compare and contrast
• Sites with lower estimates more
frequently give information about
the author
– From Religious Tolerance.org
– From Wicca: For the Rest of Us
• But this isn’t universally the case

14. Compare and contrast
• Sites on this topic are frequently
written by people with a keen
personal interest rather than an
academic background in the area
• The occasional source is listed, but
full references are rarely given

15. Alternative search strategies
• Search using terms favoured by
academics
– Phrases like “witch hunt” and “
witch craze” produce slightly different
results
– Some more academic sites – e.g.
The Witch Hunts, by Prof. Brian A.
Pavlac – but still a fairly high
proportion of non-scholarly material

16. Alternative search strategies
• Use more specific search terms
– Phrases like “witch hunt scholarship”
or “witch hunt scholarly research”
produce some useful hits
– But not all the material is helpful: some
is irrelevant, some only suited to in-
depth research, and some requires
subscription

17. Alternative search strategies
• Consult a gateway
– An academic gateway site such as
Intute offers hand-selected resources
– Searches give fewer results, but
they’re more likely to be what you’re
looking for

18. Alternative search strategies
• Searching Intute for “Burning Times”, ‘
witch hunt’, or ‘witch craze’ gives a small
number of (mostly) relevant results
• A description of each site aids the
process of determining what’s most
useful
• Also offered are additional features such
as Limelight articles

19. Alternative search strategies
• The hits include Jenny Gibbons’s
informative essay
‘Recent Developments in the Study of the Grea
• Gives the author’s credentials and
mentions her sources (though still
lacks detailed references)

20. Summary - key things to note
• Popular and scholarly answers may
vary widely
• It’s useful to consult a variety of
sources
• Checking where the information
given is drawn from is also wise

21. Why might we find conflicting
answers to a question?
• There may be real uncertainty
about the answer
• Authorities may disagree
• There may be multiple ways of
interpreting a question

22. Why might we find conflicting
answers to a question?
• Some sources may be more up to
date than others
• Answers may vary in precision
• Some sources may simply be
wrong

23. Questions to ask when
assessing sources
• Who is the author?
– An individual or an institution?
– What are the author’s credentials?
• Is this a scholarly resource, or a
more informal one?
• How up to date is this source?

24. Questions to ask when
assessing sources
• Are there reasons to doubt the
reliability of this source?
– Does it include information I know to
be false?
– Does it contradict itself or use poor
reasoning?
– Is it biased towards a particular view?

25. Questions to ask when
assessing sources
• Is the information provided
confirmed by other sources?
– Are references provided?
– Do other websites agree? (A major
advantage of the Web is that many
sources can be compared quickly and
easily.)

26. Remember the three Ws
• WHO wrote this site?
– Is the author a trustworthy source?
• WHEN was it written?
– Is it up to date?
• WHY was it written?
– Does the author have an axe to grind?

27. This slideshow is part of
Encouraging Critical Thinking Online,
a set of free teaching resources
designed to develop
students’ analytic abilities,
using the Web as source material.
For the full set, please visit
Intute Training:
http://www.intute.ac.uk/training/