Urban Legends and Internet Hoaxes

Name: ______Urban Legends and Internet Hoaxes Go to the following website to complete the handout. About.com (Search- Urban Legends)

1. What are Urban Legends and Internet Hoaxes? http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/errata/a/urban_legends.htm

2. What are some of the Current hoaxes? (Hint: Follow the links and look for the words: Top 25 Urban Legends) http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bltop25.htm

3. Describe some signs or signals that what you are reading may be a hoax. (Hint: Follow the link signs or signals.) http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/urbanlegends/ht/urbanlegends.htm

4. What criteria would you use to assess whether what you are reading is real or a hoax? http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/nethoaxes/ht/emailhoax.htm 5. What should you do, or where should you go, if you get an email and you want to know if it is true or not? There is no link to this answer--you have to figure it out for yourself--but this image should give you a hint:

6. Use the Snopes.com Search box (as seen above) to find out the truth about these stories.

a. hypodermic needles with AIDS True or False? b. flesh eating bananas True or False? c. toilet on airplane True or False?

7. Choose an Urban Legend from snopes.com

A. What is the Legend:

B. What are 2 variations of the legend?

C. What is the origin of the legend?

D. Other information: