27-28 March - Self Assessment and Research Sources

Announcements: Remember I will be checking journals during the next class period.

New requirement for current events: If you have a current event, please bring a headline with a brief summary and a source to me at the beginning of class to receive extra credit. 

Example:

N Korea goes 'into combat posture No 1', says state TV

North Korea has pointed its artillery toward US targets, which is being called "combat posture" after third incident of nuclear testing in February.

Source: BBC World News, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21938671

Current Event > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21928277

Current Event World Map!

Writing Self Evaluation

Pull out your homework that was due today. Make sure it is headed correctly with all information in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Reread what you wrote and answer the following questions on the bottom or back of your paper:

1.       Is the writing legible (neatly written or typed), a.k.a. am I able to read it?

2.       Is the thesis statement clearly written?

3.       Does the argument contain three or more claims that support the thesis?

4.       Is the assignment interesting to read?

5.       Did you provide enough evidence to main the ideas understandable?

6.       Do the sentences relate to each other?

7.       What grade would you give yourself on this assignment?

8.       Do you have the citation written at the bottom of the assignment?

Turn in the homework to the basket!

Research Sources

	Print	Internet
Publication Process	Generally go through editing and article review process to check for quality and accuracy	Almost anyone can publish on the internet
Authorship/Affiliations	Tend to clearly indicate the author and the author’s affiliations (employer, education, etc)	Anyone can publish and they don’t need to present their affiliations to do so
Sources and Quotations	In academic publications, it is required that sources be cited and quotations specifically noted	Sources and quotations may be used, but they may not be clearly marked or cited
Bias	As traditional publication is harder and more expensive, strong biases and work for special interest groups is mostly weeded out or are more likely to be acknowledged	Publishing on the internet is free and authors can publish opinion as though it is fact without any repercussions. Websites may be deliberately deceptive.
Author qualifications	Author qualifications are almost always required for the publication before text is published.	When an author can be determined, the qualifications of that author are not always provided.
Publication Information	Date of publication, publisher and author/editor information is almost always provided.	Dates of publication are often hard to find, as is the case with authorship.

Source: Driscoll, Dana L. and Brizee, Allen. (2013, February 15). “Evaluating Print vs. Internet Sources” Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/553/04/.

How to Choose a good source or 

Evaluating an Internet Source:

1.      Try search sources that are likely to be reliable.

a.      Internet sources that have equivalent print sources (like newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias)

b.      Internet sources associated with educational institutions (ending in .edu)

2.      Use sources that have offer much of the below information:

a.      Author’s name

b.      Author’s title, position

c.      Author’s organizational affiliation (university, employer)

d.      Date of page creation or edit

e.      Author’s contact information

f.      Recognized peer-review process or other quality control (such as the editing process with newspaper sites or websites that post information from print sources with similar quality control standards)

Source: Harris, Robert. (2010, November 22). “Evaluating Internet Research Sources.” Retrieved  from <http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm>.

If in doubt, check information you get off of the internet in a print or reliable source (fits the criteria above). If you find a website with consistent information with a reliable source, it may be a valid source for research.

DO NOT use Wikipedia as a source of information. If you start your research by looking at Wikipedia, use the citations at the bottom of the page and assess those sources!

Guided Practice: Evaluate the Resources

Write the following information for each of the sources:

a.      Author’s name

b.      Author’s title, position

c.      Author’s organizational affiliation (university, employer)

d.      Date of page creation or edit

e.      Is there author contact information? Yes or no

f.      Recognized peer-review process or other quality control? Yes or no