Evaluating and Presenting Sources BIO 240L

Evaluating Sources Authority Accuracy & Accountability Objectivity Suitability

Authority Author’s qualifications – Credentials, education, training and experience relevant to the subject (look for biographical information, the author’s title or position). – Contact Information – Author’s reputation Institutional Affiliation – Organizational authorship from a known and respected organization – Publisher known for high quality material within field

Accuracy & Accountability Publication Type – Scholarly, Popular, Propaganda, or Personal – Primary or Secondary Research – Print or Internet Editorial and Peer Review Process Documentation of source material (References) Corroboration (Verifiable)

Objectivity Fairness Bias Moderateness Consistency Conflicts of Interest

Suitability Scope & Coverage Audience Currency/timeliness – Year of publication – Editions or revisions

Internet Sources With the rise in online information it is becoming more frequent for people to cite information from websites. Unlike journal articles, books or newspaper articles many websites are not peer reviewed. Because of this you need to be careful about citing information from a website However, you can cite website information if it comes from a reliable source (e.g. NOAA, EPA, Nature Conservancy, etc…..)

DomainType of infoReliability.com (commercial) Commercial sites, ads, business info, shopping, news Moderate*.edu (education) school info, links to libraries & departments Good*.gov (government) statistics, public info, facts, agency databases Very Good.org (organization) non-profit information, interest group agendas, may try to influence public opinion Moderate*.net (network) Internet service provider, often sponsors personal sites Suspect ~ (tilde) followed by a personal name (someone's personal webpages) Could be great information. (Some educational institutions let individuals post personal material, with no monitoring of contents.) You be the judge! From *Both.com and.org domains may provide good information, but you must be careful to evaluate the bias of these organizations. Some sources with.edu domains may be excellent sources of information, but consider the authority of the author. Internet Sources

Literature Citations Citations follow a standard format, and are alphabetized by the author’s last name. In general, include the author(s) or editor(s); publication year; report, book or article and journal title; edition, volume, or issue number; book publisher; inclusive pages; and any other information necessary to find the source.  The generic format for citing a journal using CSE guidelines: Author(s). Year. Article title. Journal title volume number (issue number):inclusive pages.  Example of Scholarly Journal: Frank PW Effects of winter feeding on limpets by the black oystercatcher, Haematopus bachmani. Ecology 63(5):

Notes on CSE Guidelines: Periods delineate different sections. No comma after last name, no periods following author’s initials, and no “and” between authors. Sentence case (only capitalize first word and proper nouns) in article titles. Do no italicize book or journal names. Literature Citations

Literature Cited  Journal article with multiple authors: Iampietro PJ, Kvitek RG, Morris E Recent advances in automated genus-specific marine habitat mapping enabled by high-resolution multibeam bathymetry. Marine Technology Society 39(3):  Organization as author: [CDFG] California Department of Fish and Game Guidelines for evaluating marine protected areas. Journal of Fishery Science 25(2):

Literature Cited  Signed Newspaper Article: Broder JM Dec 12. Clinton Adamant on 3 rd World Role in Climate Accord. New York Times; Sec A:1.  Unsigned Newspaper Article: Gene data may help fight colon cancer Aug 24. Los Angeles Times; Sect A:4.  Magazine Article Lu C Sep. A small revelation: Newton has arrived at long last. Macworld; p

Literature Cited  Web Sites Berwick DM. [date unknown]. As good as it gets: Making health care better in the new millennium. In Policy studies, national coalition on health care (section Adding it up) [Internet]. Accessed 2001 August 1 from: Environment Canada National Climate Data and Information Archive [Internet]. Accessed 2008 April 21 from: Associative learning. [date unknown]. [Internet]. Accessed 2001 July 18 from: