Evaluating Sources 101

Or “Do I Trust What this Website Says?”

Every time we use a source for research, academic or personal, we need to ask ourselves some questions about how much we can trust the source.

We do this in our every-day life with friends, family, watching TV, etc.

Let’s walk through evaluating some sources by looking at the Guiding Question, “Why did Janay Palmer stay with Ray Rice after he assaulted her?”

• Background-In February of 2014, Ray Rice, running back for the Baltimore Ravens punched his wife, Janay Palmer, in an elevator, knocking her unconscious

• Rice was indicted for the assault in March and suspended for two games; Palmer and Rice married one day after the indictment

• In September 2014, TMZ released a video of the assault, leading to Rice’s indefinite suspension from the NFL, though Palmer defended him.

Fact vs. Opinion (Purpose)Reliability (Title, Author, Publication)

Relevance/Appropriateness (Audience)

AccuracyStrengths and Weaknesses

5 Levels of Evaluation

What is the purpose of the source? Is it trying to Persuade, Inform, or Entertain?◦ Persuade and entertain=opinion◦ Inform=fact◦ Be careful! Persuasive pieces often use facts to

make their point! Opinion sources are OK as long as you

recognize and acknowledge that they are opinions.

Fact vs. Opinion (Purpose)

Transcript from Ray Rice Trial:

Ask yourself, how many people looked at this source before it was published?◦ One Person-Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia,

Urban Dictionary◦ Several People-Newspapers, Magazines, Official

Websites◦ Peer Reviewed-Scholarly Journals

The more people who assessed it, the more reliable it is

Reputation matters-if you have heard of a source, that is a good sign

Reliability (Title, Author, Pub.)

Relevance-Does this source actually address my guiding question? How recently was it written/published?

Appropriateness-Who is the intended audience for this source? Children? Academics? Professionals?◦ Am I going to understand this source?

Relevance/Appropriateness (Audience)

“Gender, Status, and Domestic Violence”

Are the things that this source says logically provable? Is it true?

If you can confirm the same information in multiple sources, than the chances of it being accurate are higher

Accuracy

All sources have strengths and weaknesses◦ Twitter strength: first-hand account◦ Twitter weakness: unreliable, may be inaccurate

◦ Journal strength: very reliable◦ Journal weakness: possibly not appropriate to me

as a reader

Strengths and Weaknesses

The more parts of the Works Cited that you know about a source, the better the source

DO judge a book by its cover-the more professionally published, the better the source

***THIS IS NOT ALWAYS TRUE*** You must use your judgement

Hints

Your turn:

The New York Times