 Take out the following materials: 1. Your research links if you did not turn them in yesterday 2. Signed Movie Permission Forms 3. Your ALWG text 4. A Pen or Pencil 5. Your ALWG Study Guide

Don’t Listen to the Village Idiot

 Definition: 1.capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement. 2.worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness.  Credibility is important! ◦ If your research is flawed, so is your argument. ◦ If you use credible sources, you can believe them, and your readers can believe you.

 Most books you find in library nonfiction are credible.  Most large newspapers are credible. ◦ New York Times ◦ Charlotte Observer ◦ Washington Post  Scholarly journals are usually credible. ◦ JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)  Most government publications are credible.  Reputable organizations are usually credible. ◦ American Cancer Society ◦ World Health Organization ◦ American Red Cross  Most information from colleges is credible. ◦.edu websites

 You can automatically rule out: ◦ Wikipedia ◦ Myspace ◦ Geocities ◦ Blogs ◦ Friendster ◦ Personal sites

 The internet offers the BEST information on MANY topics.  The internet offers the WORST information on MOST topics.  You can use internet resources for research papers, but you have to be careful.

 Ways to tell a credible internet source: ◦ Looks professional  The website doesn’t look like it was made by a 4-year- old with a crayon  All or most links are working ◦ Information offered is easy to verify  The website offers links to where they found their information  The sources of their information is also credible

◦ It is easy to contact the owners of the website for more information or to ask questions ◦ The site is up to date  Information from 1991 is not listed as “recent” ◦ There are no errors  The site uses proper spelling and grammar ◦ The website is appropriate  There is no inappropriate language, graphics, or photos

 These guidelines are not 100%  When in doubt, ask for help from a teacher or librarian  If you’re still not sure, DON’T use it  Be careful with.com sites ◦ All.com sites are trying to sell something, which means they are all biased in some way ◦ Sites with lots of advertisements are usually less credible

It’s not as hard as it used to be.

 If you use ANY information from a source in your paper, you must CITE it. ◦ Works Cited Page ◦ In-Text Citations  If you didn’t say it yourself and you don’t cite it, it is plagiarism.  Plagiarism can result in: ◦ A zero for the assignment ◦ A requirement to redo the entire assignment ◦ In college, plagiarism may fail you for an entire course ◦ In college, plagiarism may result in expulsion, with no tuition refund

 Is much easier to spot than it used to be  Doesn’t take very long for a teacher to check ◦ A teacher can type 10 words of your paper into a search engine, and within seconds, compare it to tens of thousands of other papers that have already been written

If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.