DB5g

PPOG 506

GAPS Analysis Additional Resources

Considerations for Selecting Sources

Review the steps and information below. Although websites are acceptable in academic writing, extreme caution must be used when selecting a site.

When using information to support an academic paper, argument, or position, the use of valid evidence and information is critical.

Wikipedia is NOT a reliable or credible source. Wikipedia builds its entries from submissions by users such as you. Thus, anyone can contribute and there is little verification conducted to ensure that the contributor is unbiased toward the term or has provided accurate information. Using Wikipedia, thus, is no better than saying, "A friend of a friend of a friend told me...”

That said, sites such as ask.com and freedictionary.com are not valid sources. All Internet sources must be evaluated. If a free dictionary is needed, Merriam-Webster provides a valid source. Blogs and paper mills are not acceptable sources. On one blog, a student (without any degree) represented himself as an expert.

Steps for confirming the validity and reliability of web sites:

· Send the site an e-mail to see if they have an active e-mail address.

· Does the site list a physical address?

· Check if the site is affiliated with a reputable institution or organization, such as a university or a government.

· URLs gives a lot of information: ".edu" includes most educational institutions, ".gov" indicates government-affiliated sites, and ".com" refers to commercial enterprises, while ".org" suffixes are used by many non-profit organizations.

· Check who publishes or maintains the web site.

· Is the site well maintained? Check for dead links and the last date of revision.

· If the material is protected by copyright, is the name of the copyright holder given?

· Is it clear who is responsible for the contents of the page? What are this author’s qualifications?

· Is the information free of grammatical and spelling errors?

· Is the site rated? By whom? Using what criteria?

· Check the site disclaimer and terms of use. Many times sites clearly state that the information is not considered accurate or reliable.

Look at the information critically. Many organizations slant information to the advantage of a cause.

· Is it being used for an economic advantage?

· Is it promoting a special interest?

· Is it on a legitimate business's web site or the millions of web sites that have cropped up for anything someone thinks can make money?

· Is the site objective or biased?

In addition, check your search engine. Yahoo allows the searcher to search only for .edu, .gov, and .org sites. Google also allows this if you include “site:.gov” or “site:.edu” etc. in your search. This eliminates the majority of questionable sites.

If you are a Google searcher, at least use Google Scholar. This search engine provides academic and scholarly sources. However, caution should be used when evaluating the dates. Many of the accessible articles may be outdated.

What is a Scholarly Source?

Students are often confused when attempting to locate a scholarly article. A scholarly source is one that is written for the academic community—for scholars. The academic community is different from the “business professional” community, because they are looking for rigorous research and analysis. Statistical analysis is therefore often included as part of the study as well. Scholarly sources have an extensive review of previous research.

The purpose of a scholarly article is to present original research or experimentation to the scholarly community. Most scholarly articles provide a research-based argument related to a research question or test a hypothesis. Scholarly sources are “peer-reviewed,” meaning that the editorial board of the journal reviews article submissions for scientific reasoning and acumen.

Liberty University has an online library consisting of databases which hold scholarly, peer-reviewed papers. The most often-used databases include EBSCOhost and ProQuest. When conducting a search on one of these databases, simply check the box or tab for "peer-reviewed." Furthermore, a search may be refined for the last 5 years, which is considered recent literature.

· The Five Parts of a Research Paper

A properly-executed research paper has 5 distinct parts, each of which has a distinct function. These 5 parts are:

I. Thesis Statement (question), which in 1 sentence tells your reader the purpose of the paper.

a. Included under this division, you give your background and precedents—what led you to this particular treatment of this particular question?

b. Also included are your definitions of terms—your research is held accountable only to your definitions.

c. Neutralizing your biases. To begin a research paper, one must neutralize his/her biases. To accomplish this, the following 2 questions must be answered: (1) What data set (set of facts) would I need that would cause me to change my mind; and (2) Does that data set (set of facts) exist? This leads you to Part II.

II. Literature Review, in which you identify the pertinent literature in the field concerning your topic. This includes book, author, and his/her main argument(s). This is to show that your research question is adding something new and significant to the current literature in the field, and that you have done diligence to neutralize your biases. This then leads to Part III.

III. Data, which is the neutral presentation of the facts, not opinions or anecdotes, which you have collected including supporting and opposing facts for your thesis. This then leads to Part IV.

IV. Analysis. No analysis is to appear anywhere else in the paper. This is where you compare fact with fact (again, not opinions or anecdotes) in an orderly fashion.

Pro Con

Fact Fact Fact Fact Fact Fact

V. Findings and/or Conclusions. These are the obvious conclusions drawn from your analysis. This is where you prove or disprove your thesis statement—not where you continue your analysis.

This outline can be accomplished in 5 sentences, 5 paragraphs, 5 pages, or 5 chapters if each point is executed properly.

Page 2 of 2