Evaluating Sources Ms. Rhian James ARW

Today's Objectives: 1. Learn how to find sources of information for your academic papers 2. Learn to judge whether a source is reliable 3. Learn what sources are acceptable for academic writing

Why is it important to evaluate your sources? Where do you get your information? Books Internet Journals Newspapers Television

There is so much information in the world. Approximately books and websites exist today. Thousands of newspapers print new issues every day. Not all of these can contain good information. Of course, I may have made these numbers up- there’s no way to tell because I haven’t provided a reference to my source.

Appropriate Sources Depends on what the information is for If you are writing a paper on youth culture and language, then referencing Gossip Girl may be ok. A paper on the internet habits of year olds could include information from Buzzfeed or Reddit An essay on the increase in reported car accidents in the last year may use information from the local newspaper. However, today we will be focusing on sources used in your more standard academic research essays

General Hierarchy of Sources 1. Peer Reviewed JournalsPeer Reviewed Journals 2. Reputable esearch Reports e.g Surgeon General's Report 3. University Press Books e.g Yale University Press 4. Textbooks 5..gov (CDC),.org (WHO),.edu (owl purdue) (But be careful) 7. Reputable periodicals 8. Others. E.g. TV shows, gossip magazines

Obviously, within these categories, some sources will be more trustworthy than others.

Peer Reviewed Journal Scholarly journals contain articles written by, and aimed at, experts in an area. They are concerned with academic study, especially research. The main purpose of a scholarly journal is to report original research or experimentation and to communicate this information to the rest of the scholarly world. All articles published in a peer reviewed journal are first reviewed by other experts in the field.

Reputable research Reports There are a number of reputable institutions that release annual reports. For example: the U.S Surgeon General's Report, which reports on public health and medical concerns. Or NASA's SEMAA Report, which reports on new discoveries in the science, engineering, mathematics and aerospace fields.

University Press Books A university press is an academic, nonprofit publishing house. Most but not all are affiliated with a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by scholars in the field. They produce mainly scholarly works (but there are exceptions). Many of the best universities in the world, such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Oxford, and Cambridge publish University Press books.

Textbooks I really hope you know what these are by now!

.gov,.org,.edu While these websites can usually be trusted, the information provided may be affected by bias. Remember that these websites may have an agenda. Governments are not going to publish any material that harms them politically. Universities want to attract students. Organisations want to persuade people's POV and often desire donations.

Another thing to remember Organisations can be owned by anyone. Some are reliable- WHO Some are not- NAMBLA

Reputable Periodicals Financial Times Time Magazine National Geographic Washington Post etc. NOT People Magazine National Inquirer Girlfriend Marie Claire

If in doubt Author Date Purpose Intended Audience Language Used Cross Check Reference List

If in doubt Author Date Purpose Intended Audience Language Used Cross Check Reference List

Author Are they an expert? Are they respected? Are they impartial? Do they have a good publication record? OK? Then look at….

Date As more research is conducted, old research becomes out of date and irrelevant. E.g. Sir Maurice Wilkes- an expert in computers. He was knighted for his service to the computer technology industry and was a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Royal SocietySir Maurice Wilkes OK? Then look at…. He is definitely a respected author. BUT his research was conducted in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Unless you are writing a paper on the history of computers, his research is unlikely to help you when writing a computer science paper.

Purpose There can be many different reasons to write an article. Sell Persuade Inform Entertain

Example You are writing a paper on the origin of man. You come across these 4 sources: Sumerian Artefacts Evolution The Consequences Of Evolution Church of FSM What is the purpose of each website? The first website has an online store. The second is a university textbook The third is a religious website The fourth is a satirical website.

Intended Audience Experts Students General Public Children

Language Used Is it objective or emotional? Does it generalise issues? Is it vague or specific? Does it present differing viewpoints? Does it oversimplify issues?

Cross Check Check multiple sources. If you find information in one source that you can't find any where else, there's the possibility that it's false.

Reference List Check that the article has a reference list. If it doesn't, then it might not be reliable. If it does, check to see if the references are from good sources themselves.

General Advice Try to do your research in English as well as Chinese. It not only broadens your available sources, but English is also the language of research and academic publication. Many of the world's leading journals are published exclusively in English.

Wikipedia Good source or not? Wikipedia itself acknowledges that the information on its website may not be accurate.not be accurate. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, so you may end up with an article like this.this.

What is Wikipedia good for? It is a good place to get a general feel for your topic, and to find out where you can get better information. Look up the people, societies and organisations mentioned in the article. Look at the reference list and find the original sources.