Learning to properly evaluate sources of information
Evaluation of Sources Essay
Introduction:
The internet has provided access to vast amounts of information. If you can imagine it, you can
find a reddit about it, but how good are these sources of information? Is Wikipedia acceptable
to cite in a research paper or lab report?
This homework was designed to give you an introduction to answering these questions and to expose
you to a few things you probably didn’t know about the scientific community. Most of your work on the
homework will be self-guided. You will be learning about and developing these skills simultaneously.
The Project:
You are to write a paper about evaluating sources. The paper is to be single spaced in 12-point Times
New Roman font with 1” margins and at least one page long but not to exceed four pages. Answer the
following questions or discuss the following items in your paper:
1. What’s the point? Why should anyone care about the validity of sources?
2. Discuss methods for evaluating sources. Are there different methods for different types of
sources?
3. What is the peer review process?
4. Do moderated sites like Wikipedia meet the criteria to be considered peer reviewed? Why or
Why not.
5. Are popular news magazines such as Time or Wired Magazines valuable, reliable sources of
information for research papers? Why or why not?
6. What is bias and how can it effect the validity of a source?
To get you started, I’ve listed a few resources on the next page. However, these resources are limited in
scope, so you are required to use at least 4 additional sources in order to complete your paper. You
need to properly cite your sources in your text by placing the number of the citation in brackets at the
end of the sentence or paragraph containing information from the source like this [1].
At the end of your one to four page paper, you are to include a reference section on an additional page
where you list, in order that they appear in your paper, each source referenced. After each reference
write a short paragraph discussing why the source is valid. See “How to cite your references” on the next
page.
Search for and read about the “CRAAP Test” online
Review the information contained in the following links.
Sources of Information:
http://research.library.oakland.edu/sp/subjects/tutorial.php?faq_id=189
Peer Review process:
http://research.library.oakland.edu/sp/subjects/tutorial.php?faq_id=43
http://research.library.oakland.edu/sp/subjects/tutorial.php?faq_id=191
Spotting Bad Science:
http://www.compoundchem.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Spotting-Bad-Science-v2.png
How to cite your references (page 36 of the linked file):
http://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/IEEE-Reference-Guide.pdf
• Note: the link says that “References need not be cited in the text. When they are…” This means
you need to reference everything you looked at to create the paper, even if you don’t end up
citing it in the text. This doesn’t mean that you can choose not to cite something that your are
referencing or quoting.
