Ch.5 Evaluating Sources

Chapter 5 consists of keyword phrases that help to identify the relevance and validity of  sources you find. To begin, Relevance is important when considering your target audience. Ask questions about the purpose of the source you've found, and determine if the source will help you address your readers. Evidence is key when you need to support a statement or just basic logic. Make sure to evaluate the quality, amount, and appropriateness of the sources you find as well. Hard evidence will ensure the strength of your writing. When evaluating a Author as a source check the work for validity, bias, and if they're writing relates to your topic. Also try to identify the author's affiliation, as this could amplify what they say or expose them. The Timeliness of a source depends on the topic you are researching. Is your topic current or in the past? Be sure to check the sources publication date. The Comprehensiveness of a source is key. A source must be a complete and balanced view of your topic. The last keyword is Genre. Identifying the genre of a source can be fairly easy if you know what to look for. Check to see how evidence is used and how the document is formatted. A quick look at a sources citations can tell you what kind of source you have. When evaluating the relevance and credibility digital sources, it is important examine the domain of the website you visited. Also cross reference the information you collected from one source to another and see if it is true. When you evaluate a field source it is important to know the speaker from which you are collecting information. Check to see if what you have collected is relevant to your topic.  

9/30 - In Class Lab - Reviewing Sample Research Paper

9/30 - In Class Lab - Reviewing Sample Research Paper

Reinstating Compulsory Conscription 

Carol Rivers

Word Count: 4455

Overall Grade:  B

I feel the writer accomplishes her thesis of "compulsory conscription needs reinstating" pretty well. She using rational appeal through historical events and statistics, and then emotional appeal through personal experience and heartstrings tugging quotes, such as the closing quote by Ronald Reagan.  However in the 4th and 5th paragraphs I think she misses an opportunity to defend her thesis. Paragraph 4 expresses how reinstating the draft will be expensive and thus bad for the economy, while paragraph 5 stats how reinstatement will create jobs and thus be good for the economy. As a reader I become confused which point of view "outweighs" the other, and I begin to doubt her thesis. A simple sentence or two arguing and stating why the benefits of job creation to the economy, due to draft implementation, outweighs the cost would have supported her thesis and kept her point of view clear and strong. 

 

In the fifth to last paragraph of the document, the author is writing in first person, and giving her own personal opinion about the information. The paper is fairly grammatically correct and the author has a good understanding about tenses. The author does, however has slightly stunted transition

The author clearly shows where she found her point and also uses clear signal phrases so you can tell the paper is not plagiarized. The sources are sufficient and it is clear that the author researched her paper.

The author of the paper has well over the minimum amount of citations with 19 works cited. Though well cited, many of the sources do not qualify as scholarly.

IN CLASS LAB – 10/2 – Rhetorical Analysis of an “A” Paper

IN CLASS LAB – 10/2 – Rhetorical Analysis of an “A” Paper

 

Things that strike us immediately about the “Transportation” Paper:

·         Design

o   Use of images

o   Bold sub-titles

o   Transparent imagery (back ground of main paper)

o   Use of graphs

o   Use of tables

·         Genre

o   Very clear that it was a research paper

·         Sources

o   Clear work cited page

o   Page numbers are not listed in the parenthetical within the text

o   He puts the period before the parenthesis when cited sources.  Period goes after citation.

 

“Transportation Paper” vrs. “Conscription Paper”

	Conscription	Transportation
Own Work?	2	4
3,000 words?	4	4
Correct grammar….?	2 – Multiple mistakes	4
Correct work cited…?	3 – Incorrectly employed	3 – Due to incorrect citations within paper (use of period incorrect)
Argue thesis well?	3 – Had conflicting economy points	4 – Use of graphs, images, tables helped to argue and illustrate thesis
Logical Case?	3 - Due to bad transitions	4 – Use of graphs, images, tables helped to argue and illustrate thesis
10 Work Cited?	2 – No peer reviewed articles	4