Evaluation of Sources and Conclusion IB History

Evaluation of Sources ► This section of the paper should be a critical evaluation of two important sources appropriate to the investigation and should refer to their origin, purpose, value and limitation. ► The two sources chosen should be appropriate for the investigation! ► Recommended word count: words

Evaluation of Sources ► The purpose of this section is to assess the usefulness of the sources; NOT to describe their content or nature. ► You do not have to compare the two sources! Think of it as a paragraph of OPVL for one source and a paragraph for another source. ► Think of this section earning you easy marks.

Origin ► Who (or what) produced this document? ► Tips:  You must provide academic credentials of the author.  This section shouldn’t be lengthy (1-2 sentences)  If you cannot find anything on the author in the book, search the net. If you still cannot find information on your author, say so. It is not necessary to put in every academic post or professorship the authors have held

Purpose ► Why was this document produced? What is the author trying to accomplish? What is the author’s perspective? ► Tips:  This section does not need to be lengthy. (1-2 sentences)  The best authors will typically express purpose in the preface/introduction/first chapter. You may have to search for the purpose.  Even narratives have a purpose.  If you cannot locate a clearly articulated purpose, you may use language such as, “It appears that the author’s purpose is….”

Value ► What makes this document useful to you, or to anyone interested in the topic? ► Tips:  Explain why the source is valuable in general, and address why it is particularly important to your research.  Make specific references to the text and its sources; use quotes if you need to.  You may comment on footnotes of the book, what kinds of sources the author used, etc.

Limitations ► What about this document needs to be questioned? Why would someone use caution when looking at this document for evidence and analysis? ► Tips:  Again, you must be specific, providing examples from the text, maybe even quotes, etc.  Limitations could include a critique of sources; a critique of whether or not the coverage is too broad to meet the author’s objectives; if the author is using out of date scholarship, relying on only newspaper articles, etc.  Why might a historian need to show some degree of caution using this source?

Bias ► A few words on using Bias to assess Values and Limitations.  Remember that all sources are biased, none are completely objective.  You need to provide an interpretation of “bias”  Explain why the source is biased

Example 1 of Eval ► A reference I found essential for my research was The Casting Couch and Other Front-Row Seats: Women in Films of the 1970s and 1980s, by Marsha McCreadie, a movie reviewer in the 1970s and 1980s. Her purpose in writing this book was to reflect on the presence of females in the movies she reviewed, and her opinions on how those roles changed. Her opinions and explanations are valuable because she was a professional reviewer who knew how to find underlying meaning and expressions within the film’s content. However, the worth of her opinion is limited because she was a woman and only one person, so the views she gave would be biased by her own role in life and do not give the interpretations of others.

Example 2 of Eval ► One of my most useful sources was a book titled Explosion of Chicago’s Black Street Gangs written by Eugene Perkins in Eugene Perkins argues, that the purpose of this commentary is “to trace the evolution of Chicago’s Black street gangs and identify those factors that have made many of them the violent gangs they were at the present time” (Perkins 1). In addition, the purpose is to separate the facts from the myths in relation to gang formation. This source is valuable because Perkins explains the growth of black street gangs and puts in plain words that the race riot in Chicago of 1919 had a major impact on the increased number of the black street gangs in Chicago. “The gangs which did exist during the riot were organized primarily in response to the white gangs that terrorized the black community” (Perkins 1) This source is critical to my research because it contains much of the valued information I was looking for concerning the Chicago race riot and how gangs had formed as a result. The limitation is that Perkins only gives the viewpoint of the African American community on the race riot and the subsequent gang crimes. A more holistic approach would include the perspective of Caucasians or another opposing side.

Conclusion ► The conclusion must be clearly stated and consistent with the evidence presented. ► This section is a follow-up to section D. It requires an answer or conclusion, based on the evidence presented, which either partially or fully addresses the question stated or implied in the investigation.

Conclusion ► Recommended word count: words ► Must be clearly stated and consistent with the evidence presented. ► As a follow-up to section D, requires an answer or conclusion to the original research question ► Provides conclusions in a focused manner

Conclusion Tips ► Your conclusion may be fairly brief. One paragraph will suffice if you addressed conclusions in the analysis section ► Include your final judgment on the two books you used in your eval. Are the sources equally valuable for further research? Articulate the reasons for your final evaluation of the books ► You should no include new information not already presented earlier in your paper.