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Evaluating Sources Research Journal Entry

Our last RJ had you find a source using MiCAL and compose a 300 word summary of that source. This RJ will help you revise that summary before expanding the summary to include a 200 word evaluation and a works cited entry.

To begin, copy (ctrl + c) and paste (ctrl + v) your summary at the bottom of your copy of this document. You’ll be asked to mark elements for revision and will add the evaluation below.

1. The 300 Word Summary: A strong summary should provide the reader with just enough information to understand what they would get if they got this source for themselves. To achieve this goal, we have to stay focused on the BIG PICTURE and use source Attribution Phrases (SAPs) - telling the reader what the author(s) said.Quoting or paraphrasing statistics or other details rarely helps create successful summary. This is why we will not allow quoting or paraphrasing in the Community Unit Summaries.

A. Use Source Attribution Phrases (SAPs)

a. In an essay, we tend to take sources and apply them to suit our needs, making a source align or contradict our views. In an objective piece like a summary, we need to show what the source said, making sure the reader can tell the difference between our thoughts and the work we’re summarizing. Using SAPs, will help you attribute ideas back to the author:

b. Examples of SAPs

i. The author claims…

ii. … , but the author goes on to suggest…

iii. Williamson explains…

c. ACTION: Go through the summary you already created and identify all SAPs by highlighting them in yellow (or some other means of marking them).

i. SAPs should be consistently present throughout the whole summary. If SAPs are infrequent, you’ll need to add them during a subsequent draft.

B. Avoid 1st and 2nd Person Pronouns

a. I, My, Me, We, Our, Us: First person pronouns allow us to express our thoughts or opinions within a text. Since we are engaging in objective (unbiased) summaries where only the opinions of the source should be expressed, we should avoid first person pronouns.

i. EX: I believe the source provides good information. We can use this source.

ii. Notice how the above sentence offers judgement of a source. In a good summary, the reader shouldn’t be able to tell what you think about the source. Removing first person can help you achieve this objectivity.

b. You, Your, You’re: Second person is a powerful persuasive tool; it’s also very subjective. If you’re using the second person while still summarizing the author’s ideas, you’re presenting the ideas as if they are your own rather than attributing them to the source. Don’t persuade your reader; inform your reader concerning what the source says.

i. EX: You know that fast food is a leading cause of obesity.

ii. In the above example, the author is telling us what we (the audience) know. A summary version of this might read: “The author assumes that readers already know about the link between fast food and obesity.”

c. ACTION: Underline all examples of first or second person in the summary you’ve composed. (or use some other means of uniquely marking them).

i. Considering revising all the of the highlighted sentences to reflect our objective, summary.

C. Use Third Person Pronouns and Proper Nouns: Third person is often considered more objective, or less biased because it talks about something or directs ideas back to their sources. When used properly, third person pronouns and proper nouns usually work as SAPs and help keep readers informed about where information is coming from.

a. He, She, It

b. They, Their, They’re

c. Smith, The author, The source

i. When working with a source that cites other sources, be careful when discussing their sources. Consider, if you’re reading a source written by Smith wherein Smith cites Marx, you didn’t actually read Marx, so all you can tell us is what Smith says Marx said.

d. Good Summary: After detailing his methodology, Smith provides two tables of statistics in his results section addressing obesity rates in children.

e. Weak Summary (a paraphrase): The source addresses obesity rates in children between 4-6, highlighting that many first graders are overweight (Smith 321).

f. Bad Summary (a quotation): The author claims that “20% of children ages 4-6 are obese.” “First graders are 65% more likely to be overweight than their peers.” (Smith 321)

D. ACTION: Italicize all quoted (word-for-word borrowings) or paraphrased (reworded sentences). These elements will need to be removed, replacing them with BIG PICTURE focused summary.

Using the elements you’ve marked in the summary, revise your original summary to better reflect our class’s expectations for summary.

2. Composing an Evaluation

Each source we collect will have the bibliographic/works cited entry, the 300 word summary, and a 200 word evaluation. Let’s learn about the 200 word evaluative summary.

What’s TRAAP?

TRAAP is an acronym for an evaluative criteria. We’ll use it to objectively and consistently judge the credibility of sources. TRAAP lets us know the quality of a source, regardless of how we might personally feel about the information; it’s how we obtain objectivity and avoid subjectivity.

Timeliness: Like you might expect, researchers value material that is current. When selecting a source, always consider its age in relation to your question.

· When was the source created?

· Does this date influence the accuracy or credibility of the source?

· Are there sources and topics where age is less of a factor?

Relevance: Sometimes in pursuit of information, we find information that is only marginally on topic. This point asks you to consider to what degree a source connects to your research question.

· Does the source directly relate the question?

· Does the source ask the same question you are researching?

· Does the source address an important aspect or portion of your question?

Accuracy: When measuring the truthfulness or accuracy of a source, it’s important to consider to what degree the source represents the majority of research on a subject. You might disagree with a source’s claim, but if the field of science agrees on the subject, we’d need to cite the source as accurate, representing the majority of experts in the field.

· Does the source agree or disagree with most sources in the field?

· If it doesn’t, how does the source address its different position?

Authority: Research values the opinions of experts - credentialed, academic researchers who work in their field, garnering the respect of other experts in the field. (EX: An oncologist) We also value people who have personally experienced the subject (breast cancer survivor), but they are lower than researchers because of a higher potential for bias. We also value the reporters, but even a really good reporter with great sources will generally have less authority than the person who actually experienced or researched a subject.

· What gives the author the authority to speak on this issue?

· How might the author’s experience bias his or her authority? (Crosses into Accuracy.)

Purpose: All texts have purpose. Research always considers the purpose or reason an author wrote a text. We value informative texts over persuasive texts.

· What does the author (or others) stand to gain from the text?

· What is the author hoping to achieve?

· Who stands to lose something if the author’s purpose is achieved?

· Does the text argue/persuade a particular position?

How do I use TRAAP?

Think of TRAAP as a way to grade your sources. A source that measures poorly across most of the criteria or is seriously deficient in one criteria, should fail the TRAAP criteria.

We’ll use TRAAP to compose 200 word evaluative summaries for each source we collect.

How do I turn TRAAP into an Evaluative summary?

· Start by composing a sentence for each letter:

· “Timeliness is questionable with this source… .”

· From there, add a reason from the source that explains why you drew this conclusion:

· “Timelines is questionable with this source because it covers youth trends and was published ten years ago.”

· Once you’ve written a sentence for each letter, add a topic sentence that claims the overall judgement of the source

· “The source is / is not credible because… (name the principal strength and/or shortcoming of the source).”

This is a very rough way to learn how to evaluate sources. As you become more familiar, feel free to compose evaluative summaries that cover TRAAP without using such a prescriptive approach.

3. Using the above as a model, compose a 200 word evaluation that uses the TRAAP criteria. This should be included in this RJ entry and added to the bibliographic entry. Once you have a Bibliographic / Works Cited Entry, a 300 Word General Summary, and a 200 word Evaluation all in the same document, you’ll have your first completed Annotated Bibliography Entry. You’ll combine the works cited entry, summary, and evaluation you created, submitting it as a Sample Annotated Bibliography Entry and as part of your Community Annotated Bibliography. You will also post this on the Community Unit Source Pool document located in Moodle.