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Previous evaluation studies have rarely used authentic online texts and investigated upper secondary school students' use of evaluation criteria and deep reasoning. The associations between internet‐specific epistemic justifications for knowing and credibility evaluation of online texts are not yet fully understood among adolescents. This study investigated upper secondary school students' (N = 372) abilities to evaluate self‐selected authentic online texts and the role of internet‐specific epistemic justifications in students' evaluation performance when solving a health‐related information problem. Students selected three texts with Google Custom Search Engine and evaluated their credibility. Students' evaluation performance across the three texts was determined according to the different aspects evaluated (author, venue, intentions, evidence and corroboration) and the depth of their evaluations. Students also filled in the Internet‐Specific Epistemic Justifications (ISEJ) inventory previously validated with pre‐service teachers. The results revealed considerable differences in students' abilities to evaluate online texts. Students' beliefs in justification by authority and justification by multiple sources positively predicted their evaluation performance similarly in both topics. The findings suggest that the ISEJ inventory is also valid for upper secondary school students. Students should be explicitly taught to evaluate different credibility aspects and scaffolded to deeply engage with online information.

Increasingly, students turn to the internet to seek information to address a problem or complete a learning task. These forms of online inquiry require students to locate relevant and credible information from multiple online resources and build a coherent representation of the explored issue (Leu et al., 2019). Although online inquiry is a common practice, students' competencies are often under-developed (Brand-Gruwel & van Strien, 2018), resulting in uncritical engagement with online information. Furthermore, many teachers find it challenging to embed instruction of these competencies into their curriculum (Derakhshan & Singh, 2011).To address these issues, we developed a learning unit designed to intentionally translate relevant theories and design principles into effective classroom practices for teaching online inquiry. Five language arts teachers from Finland collaborated with us to provide initial feedback on the unit; after revisions, they agreed to implement the lessons in nine upper secondary classrooms and reflect on their teaching experiences. In this paper, we describe the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of our unit's design and how it was implemented in classrooms. Then, we share teachers' reflections about the unit, including ideas for improvements. Theoretical UnderpinningsTwo theoretical models guided our work in defining core competencies students need to engage in productive online inquiry: the New Literacies of Online Research and Comprehension (Leu et al., 2019) and the Documents Model (Rouet, 2006).According to the New Literacies perspective of Online Research and Comprehension, successful completion of an online inquiry task involves using the internet to search for and evaluate information, synthesize important ideas from multiple online texts, and, finally, communicate the results of the inquiry to others (Leu et al., 2019). Skilled online readers are able to regulate these cognitively demanding comprehension processes across iterative cycles of online inquiry processes (Cho et al., 2017).Students do not necessarily engage spontaneously in these processes, or if they do, their processing is often shallow (Quintana et al., 2005). In addition, students tend to overestimate their online inquiry skills (Aesaert et al., 2017). Therefore, students need to be intentionally guided through online inquiry processes with models, scaffolds, and feedback that support their ability to engage in cycles of deeper thinking (Quintana et al.,

Sourcing - identifying, evaluating, and using information about the sources of information - assists readers in determining what to trust when seeking information on the Internet. To survive in the post-truth era, students should be equipped with sufficient sourcing skills. This study investigated the efficacy of a teacher-led intervention aimed at fostering upper secondary school students’ (N = 365) sourcing during online inquiry. The intervention (4 × 75 min) was structured in accordance with the phases of online inquiry: locating, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating information. During the intervention, teachers demonstrated why and how to source, and students practiced sourcing by investigating a controversial topic on the Internet. Students worked in small groups and their work was supported with analysis and reflection prompts. Students’ sourcing skills were measured with a web-based online inquiry task before and after the intervention. Compared to controls, the intervention fostered students’ abilities in three of the four skills measured (sourcing in search queries, credibility judgments, and written product). Depending on the sourcing skill, 4–25% of students showed improved performance. The students with low sourcing skills to begin with, benefited the most from the intervention. The study demonstrated that students’ sourcing skills can be supported throughout online inquiry.

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