Evaluation and Citation How to evaluate credible resources How to cite archival and primary materials Munroe, Randall. “Wikipedian Protester.” Comic. Xkcd. Wikipedian Protester, n.d. Web. 7 Nov

Evaluating Sources

Primary and Secondary Sources Primary Sources: Literary works (poems, short stories, novels, essays, plays); documents, autobiographies; letters; interviews; speeches; surveys; tables of statistics. Credibility isn’t an issue; Why? Bias may be an issue; Why? How should you handle bias in your research process? Secondary Sources: Comments on or analyzes an original text document; biographies. Evaluation is critical! Credibility of authorship, authenticity, accuracy, and bias may all be an issue.

CRAAP and Newsprint

Red Flags Anonymity – no author or sponsoring entity Negative reviews by other sources Misspelled words and poor grammar Vague or sweeping generalizations One-sided viewpoint that does not address an opposing side

.edu = educational institution = US government site = organization or association = commercial site = museum = personal or other site What can URLS Tell Us?

Citations Please take a handout and pass them around.

How to cite archival materials in MLA Genre-appropriate MLA Citation. Box number, Folder number. Unique identifier and collection name. Archives name, Institutional affiliation, Location. Date accessed. You have two viable options for citing archival sources. 1.Check the archives website or contact them for a preferred citation. 2.Use the adapted MLA citation proposed below. Purdue OWL Because of the nature of archival and special collections materials, there is no single way to cite materials discovered while using original or rare primary sources in MLA.

Letters: Published letters are treated like a work in a collection: Dickinson, Emily. "To Mrs. A.P. Strong." 23 Feb, Letter 1 of Letters of Emily Dickinson. Ed. Mabel Loomis Todd. Boston: Roberts Brothers, Print. Unpublished letters in an archive or repository are treated like manuscripts or typescripts: Raymond, John L. Letter to Franklin Smith. 22 July MS. JLR Administrative Papers. University of St. Francis Library, Joliet, IL. Private letters to the researcher (you) also are treated like manuscripts or typescripts: Smith, Jonas. Letter to the author. 10 Aug MS. *MS or TS in the unpublished letters citation stands for manuscript or typescript. * s also follow the same guidelines as letters. More information on citing electronic or online correspondence can be found in the s, Blog and Websites page of the MLA guide. How to cite archival materials in MLA (continued)

Photographs (and other Visual Materials): All works of visual art, including photographs, lithographs, paintings, sculptures, etc, are cited in the same format. To cite a different format of visual art simply change the work "Photograph" in the citation below to whatever is the appropriate format. From a collection: Simon, Herbert M. Tower Hall Photograph. University of St. Francis Library Archives, Joliet. From a digital file*: Smith, Simon. USF Students Studying JPEG file. *All digital files, including PDF's, Word documents, and MP3 files can be cited using the above digital file format. How to cite archival materials in MLA (continued)

Ephemera: Ephemera are anything of value, either informational or personal. When citing ephemera, you use the same basic formatting as a book, but include dates if available. University of St. Francis Library. Finding Health Statistics Online. Joliet: USF Library, Print. How to cite archival materials in MLA (continued)

Basic Elements Needed The basic elements that should appear in your citation are the following: The Document Itself: Include the creator, page, section, and date information where necessary. Collection Name and Number: Include the title and the collection or catalog number. Repository: Where is the item held? From: Howard-Tilton Memorial Library research guides

(Possible) Example Citation Scrapbook, , box 31, Milwaukee Public Schools, Department of Municipal Recreation and Community Education Scrapbooks, UWM Mss 151, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives Department.

ESU Archives… Emporia State University’s archives provides citation information on the finding aids of their collections. You can use this citation information as a basis for your citations. When in doubt, contact the archive.

If You Have Any Questions…. Katherine Jones Phone: Office Hours: M-F, 8 AM-5 PM Evaluation URL: libguides.emporia.edu/evaluationform