source test

why is it critical to evaluate internet sources

It is critical to evaluate internet sources because ANYBODY can put ANYTHING on the internet.

level II source

These sources are targeted towards a particular, interested audience, whether popular of scholarly; these are generally appropriate to cite in an academic essay, as long as you balance with level three sources. Examples: The New York Times, The Economist, TIME Magazine, foundation websites.

level 1 source

These sources will help you: Understand the scope of your research topic Refine and narrow your topic Develop keywords for further research But it is generally not appropriate to cite them Examples: Wikipedia, curated general interest sources (ex: about.com)

what web sources should we avoid

WIKIS → This web source (wiki answers, Wikipedia) can be edited by ANYBODY. BLOGS → This web source is a person's online diary making them very opinionated. ANSWERS WEBSITES → This web source (Yahoo answers, answers.com) is a place where people can ask questions and see if anyone knows the answer - you CAN'T trust what other people will tell you.

question

What part of my project is it useful for? Are you using it? Do I understand the language? Is it worth reading? Does it include: names / titles / vocab for a specific part of my project

who are research articles written for

for other researchers

.gov

government Comes from the US government.

academic sources

is a credible source written by and for academic people (professors, researcher, students)

generally speaking how long does the peer review process take

it can take several months or years

skim

know what keywords to look for ( check citations, check for credibility ) Thumb through for keywords Identify relevant chunks Read first and last pages first

.org

organization Not all organizations can be trusted, some are terrorist groups.

what happens before an article is accepted by the academic community

they must pass several quality tests before it is accepted into academic community. the most important test that the research article needs to pass is the peer review.

purpose of CRAAP

to help you determine if the source you plan on using is acceptable or not. In doing so you can check the source's currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose.

why are almost all of the journals and databases subscribed to by universities and libraries

universities and libraries subscribe to journals and databases because individual subscriptions are expensive

on what criteria do the reviewers judge and asses an article

what is the research about? is it interesting? is it important? is the methodology sound? are the conclusions logical? are the findings original?

three common features of academic articles

1. is the academic article published in an academic journal or book 2. does the academic article have citations 3. is the academic article written by an expert

how many tests does the article need to pass

1. the article is read over by the journals publisher to decide if it is worthy enough of being in the journal. is so, copies of the article are sent to a group of experts to evaluate the quality of the article. 2. peer review test

boolean search processes

A word there you're not sure of one letter: ? Documents that contain several keywords: AND +&&, space Documents that contain either keywords: OR || Documents that contain one keyword but not the other: NOT - An exact phrase: "" Using two boolean operators together: ( )

what info do we need to properly cite a source

Author, publisher, date of publication, the city of publication, and the pages you found the information.

critical active reading

Choosing what to read/ What to exclude. only read what is relevant to you. make reading an active process.

CRAPP

Currency → Refers to WHEN the source was created, published, or last updated. Relevance → Refers to if the source has information that is RELEVANT to what you want to write about, and if the source is written at an ACADEMIC level. Authority → Refers to who WROTE the article and who PUBLISHED it. The author should have their credentials included (institute, department that they work in, contact info). Accuracy → Refers to if the information is LEGITIMATE, basically are the claims that are made supported by evidence. To do so look at the citations (academic, legitimate). Purpose → Refers to WHY this article was written and what the author wanted to accomplish in their article. Some articles may be biased in which the author only presents one side of the argument.

read:

Only read relevant chunks underline/ highlight parts u want to use Only pull out what is necessary ( filter ) Margins: sum up why I highlighted / marked this Label where/what part of the project I could use this. After you read: track author Who are they? Credentials? Argument: park pages and meaning.

how to find a good source on a library data base:

Research the author! Do they have academic credentials in the field they are publishing? Have they acquired honors, awards, or recognition for their work in that field? Is their work supported by other leading figures in the field? Research the Results! Check the book/ journal itself. Front and backmatter sections usually provide information on the author's credentials/ areas of expertise etc. Also run a catalog search to find other books and articles the author has written on the topic or related topics, or look for biographical information about the author. Check the publisher Make sure the publisher is a credible textbook or university press, publishing other credible authors Check their website to ensure they are not a vanity press or a press sponsored by an independent organization or institution.

level III source

Scholarly encyclopedias or dictionaries found through the library databases. These sources are for a scholarly audience, but are overviews rather than in-depth explorations of a topic, and are likely to lack scholarly analysis. Examples: Journal of Social Psychology, Journal of Sports Medicine, book reviews published in peer-reviewed journals

.k12

elem/ mid/ high school Avoid .k12 because it probably is not relevant to what you are researching.

what information should you know about the author of material on a website

You should be able to figure out what the author does for a living and how to contact them on the webpage. This can help you to figure out if they are an expert in that particular topic.

peer review process

a. the peer reviewers or referees read the article because they are considered experts due to working in that specific area of research b. each reviewer will evaluate the article by asking questions to determine the quality and significance of the research in the article c. after evaluating the article by asking questions, the reviewers will decide if the article is good enough to be published in the journal d. if so, they make a recommendation to the journal editor: either approved or rejected by the article

credible sources

any source that is reliable or accurate

.edu

college or university Usually can be trusted because they have good information to offer.

.com

commercial Trying to sell you something - be careful not to fall for a scheme.

research article

contains the report of a scholars research practice and finding

academic article/ scholarly article/ peer reviewed article

they are different ways of describing the same thing: research articles. these research articles have been published in scholarly journals.