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evaluating_and_citing_sources.docxEvaluating and Citing Sources Weeks 3-8
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Developing skills to evaluate online and print sources will help you become a savvy information user |
Evaluating resources used in research:
The Internet is a vast repository of information not managed by any one group. Because of issues surrounding the use of electronic information-- copyright, online identities, commercial sites selling products and plagiarism-- their complexity in areas critical to scholarship have increased. In order to use information from sources effectively, a critical understanding of source material is needed. It is a skill that requires patience, and an understanding of the various elements that help determine reliable information. Having criteria to assist with selecting (sourcing) information will help develop your own knowledge base when selecting from the vast stores of information available in today’s information environment.
· Selection of scholarly resources is an important step in preparing a coherent written or oral research presentation.
Criteria are used to determine the value of databases to your topic. Academic research requires that a critical evaluation of the information based on: 1) source-who provided the information, is it unbiased, what is the reputation of the information provider; 2) timeliness-how current is the information and have you looked at results over time; 3) content-how closely the information matches your particular topic; 4) integrity-relative size of the juried titles contained in the content that need to be applied as you develop your research; 5) depth of collection-is the level appropriate for the course or topic at hand.
The elements listed below are those that will help determine if you should include the ideas, concepts or data into your own research:
Content: How closely does the subject being searched match the selected topic? You want articles that say something directly related to your topic. Do you think the information is accurate, or are there errors or contradictions between this article and what you know or have studied elsewhere?
Timeliness: How current is the journal/document or book titles?
Objectivity: Is the information/data free of bias? Does the information present contrasting viewpoints? Does it compare and contrast different ideas, methods, or data?
Frequency of updates: Is the information up-to-date, or has new evidence on the topic been published?
Reputation of the information provider: Who is providing the sources of information? Is it a commercial web site, or is the information provider a reputable government agency or educational institution or research agency?
Identifying sources :
Extensions on URL’s determine what type of organization is presenting the information. They can indicate whether the information is from a scholarly source or whether it is from a commercial site. Look at the following examples that indicate the origin of the source:
Example of an educational institution (an edu):
Example of a government agency (a .gov):
Example of a commercial web site (a .com):
Recognizing when to cite a source: Academic Integrity in Research
Academic Integrity is a code of conduct that upholds the standards of honesty, ethics, and social responsibility. Research is the process of reading and analyzing the work or others and then forming your own conclusions based on the evidence presented. Once you have collected enough literature for scholarly sources, you will need to manage the information in such a way that you do not violate any rules or copyright, plagiarism, misuse of electronic information, fabrication or cheating.
Copyright law is one reason why a significant part of scholarly information is not available on the web. Copyright legally protects authors and publishers legally from having their works used or sold by someone else. These works are property in the same way a car you buy is your property. If everything was available on the web without cost, authors, artists, publishers and other producers would not make money. Universities pay for access to scholarly databases and the right to have students access full text journals, and other works, thereby balancing the owner’s right to revenue and the scholars need to learn.
Plagiarism is taking the work of another person, without giving credit (attribution) to the originator of the work, and passing on the work as your own. Plagiarism is usually caused by:
1. Copying and pasting from a web site or online database
2. Downloading sections of someone else’s work from the Internet
3. Copying directly from a printed work
4. Not citing a work that you use accurately
Violations of plagiarism or cheating are considered serious offences and may result in a range of penalties that lead to a range of disciplinary actions, including lower grades, notations on transcripts, and suspension or expulsion from the university with notations that appear in transcripts.
Tips to avoid plagiarism:
Document items you use by taking notes specifically of the author, title and name and date of the article and database used so you can refer to it later. There are tools to help you manage your notes/citations and sources. These will be discussed in “Additional Citation Aids” below.
· Attribute the complete reference (citation) as soon as you put it into your assignment or research
· Explain the significance of someone else’s work to what you are reporting
· After quoting an author, use quotation marks
· Use the works of others only to support your own ideas
· Keep careful records of all written materials or data you have used
· Download online material, along with the source, in case it becomes unavailable at a later time. Lack of availability of the source for your citations does not excuse plagiarism.
Why to cite:
When in doubt, cite. Usually, if you knew a piece of information before you began your research, you do not need to credit the source; those familiar with your area of research will also know basic information and issues surrounding your topic. However, these rules vary depending on the discipline or the context of your research. In general, you should provide sufficient information, not only to credit the source, but also to lead your readers to these materials. Your goal is to provide your readers with enough information to assist them in reading or viewing your sources as well as to comply with copyright laws and ethical methods. Citations can be located within the text or at the end of the text depending on the nature of the research you are doing and/or requirements of the professor or publisher.
APA Citations:
First, we will examine the types of information you need to cite. For many assignments, you will need to recognize the difference between primary and secondary sources. These sources may be either scholarly works or popular titles.
In general, a primary source is a first-hand account. A newspaper is an example of a primary source. Diaries, scientific experiments and autobiographical materials are other primary sources of information as are works or art, films, performances and speeches. Primary sources can also be maps, clothing, photographs, original artifacts, such as those in museums, and census data. For example, if Thinkingwoman and Wishfulman published an article on research they had done on adult learners in 1999, they would be the primary authors and their work would be a primary source. If, in 2000, Second & Chance used results (data) from the original work to report on the impact of virtual universities, the work of Second and Chance would be a secondary source. It is more advisable to use primary sources in a case such as this, but they may not be available. When you cite the source, it must be for the source you actually use.
A biography also is a secondary source since it uses primary source information to record its information to comment or interpret second hand. An article or book about something such as art, historical or current news events are examples of secondary sources. Textbooks and reference sources, such as encyclopedias, are also secondary sources.
Whether a source is considered primary or secondary may depend on what subject is being researched. For example, if you were studying changes in the critical reception of Mozart's operas over time, then reviews of the operas would be a primary source for your work. You might use older editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica as a primary source to study past perceptions and portrayals of non-European cultures. If you have any doubts about whether a source should be considered primary or secondary in terms of your assignment, please discuss them with your instructor.
Examples:
Primary Source Secondary Source
Diary of Lowell Mill Girl Article on a Lowell Mill Girl
Photographs of Greenland Ice Article on Greenland Ice Melt
APA Style Manual:
The APA style manual format is required for preparation and presentation of the learning outcomes in each course. The official web sites for the APA style manuals are:
http://apastyle.apa.org/pubmanual.html
http://apastyle.apa.org/elecmedia.html ) (for electronic publications)
American Psychological Association. (2002). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. (5th Ed.). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Perrin, Robert (2007). Pocket Guide to APA Style. (2nd ed.) New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Parts of a Citation:
Below are examples of APA citations from various publications: both print and electronic materials. It is important that the elements of author, title, publication or source; date; publisher if available; and place of publication, if available, be noted. The important of attributing someone else’s work helps avoid any accusation of plagiarism.
Each style format you see in the bibliographies of scholarly articles requires basically the same information; however, each style format organizes placement in slightly different ways and with different requirements for punctuation.
Citing Print Resources in APA Format
Book citations
Oversee, E. & Shoulder, M. (2007). Citation Styles: An every line analyzer. New York: Ourpress.
Book Chapter
Tin, M & Lion, C. (1936). To Oz: Journey through the poppy field. In Toto, D. & Dorothy, E. (Eds.) My Fabulous Fantasy. (pp. 1-24). Wind, IO: Cornfield Press.
Multiple authors should be listed in the order given on the title page of the book.
If an editor or organization is given but not author(s), begin with the editor’s name followed by (Ed.) or by the Organization Name as it is given in the text.
Journal Citations
Page, Continuous A. (2001) Trauma and confusion: treatments. Trauma Treatment Monthly, 156, 101-109.
Journal Article with Separate Paging:
In this type of journal, each numbered issue begins with page 1, even if there is only one volume/year.
Page, Separate B. (2002) More Trauma and Treatments. Trauma Treatment Monthly, 157 (1), 1-100.
Note that the titles are in italics and all major words in the titles are in capital letters. If an edition is not the first, or is it is a revised edition, enclose the description of the edition in parentheses following the title.
Citing Electronic Sources:
For Internet sources, some citation elements appear differently. For example, page information is important when citing books and articles. However, web "pages” may not be numbered or be numbered differently than their print counterparts. Basically you need the same information as you do for print plus the web address and the Digital Object Identifier if available.
If the article you are citing contains volume and issue numbers for a journal article or time for a DVD, include that information.
Rules may vary for articles you find in your scholarly full text data bases. Recently APA added a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) as a citation element requirement. While not all databases include a DOI, if you have an article that provides it, use it in your citation.
Dates may be hard to locate. Look on the bottom of the last page of the article to see if a date or revision date is given; n.d. indicates no date.
Authorship of Web pages is may be difficult to determine. The author is responsible for the intellectual content of the page and there may be a statement of responsibility by a person or an organization (who is considered the author). If you can not determine who wrote the work, the article should be considered suspect. One way to determine who is generating the web site is to go to your search engine, such as Google, and type in “Who is”. This will give you an indication, sometimes, of who is responsible for the information. This problem does not exist if you use scholarly databases provided to you be a scholarly institution.
Look for a copyright statement. It is usually at the bottom of the page. The web masters or site designers are not responsible for intellectual content.
If no author can be determined, omit that element and begin your citation with the title.
Cite the address (URL) of the database with no added punctuation or spacing and break only after a slash mark. It is permissible, and advisable, to copy and past a URL directly into a document.
Web pages are highly volatile and disappear quickly. Print or keep a copy for later reference.
Examples:
Article from a database:
Nip, P. E., & Tuck, E. (2007). Animal Identification. Journal of Contemporary Horsemanship, 12(103), 21-2. doi: 15.1557/23878765500127658113.
OR
Nip, P. E., & Tuck, E. (2007). Animal Identification. Journal of Contemporary Horsemanship, 12(103), 21-25. Retrieved December 1, 2007 from Academic Search Complete.
E-Mail Messages
These messages should be cited only in the text of a paper and not included in the references. Usually, unless the person is an authority on the topic, i.e. Dr. Paul Nurse, these references are not considered scholarly.
Dr. Paul Nurse (personal communication, August 23, 2007) stated that the human genome program had made several important discoveries in the last 2 years.
Citing Postings and Other Messages:
Some online discussions are synchronous and take place in real-time (such as IM or chat) while others are asynchronous (you can read messages and reply whenever convenient). These citations should have scholarly value and meet the criteria above if you elect to use them. They must also be retrievable by someone else.
Farah, B. D. (12 July 2007). Information gurus lead the way. Message posted to ACRL electronic mailing list, archived at: http://bucket.acrl.org/llist/2007-July/001234l.html.
Citing Multimedia:
Citing images:
=xaXa. (1996, July 1). West Virginia rapids [Image]. Photograph retrieved from http://www.nga.org/photos/xaXa/111111111/
Citing Video:
BBCAmerica. (2003, Jan. 1). New Year’s Day Gala [Video file]. Video posed to http://www.youtube.com/see?a=Z20H2400ME
Citing Audio:
Imus, Don D. (2007, Summer). What is Zen? [Audio file] University Nevada, Los Vegas. Podcast retrieved from Dumbledorf‘s Woghorts.
Tools for citing sources:
Scholarly databases have links to help with citation formatting and attributing (providing) the elements that are required in APA format. Once you save a record (article) from the database, select the citation format and copy and paste the citation into the list of references, endnotes, footnotes or bibliography. You will need to make adjustments depending on where in your paper you are citing a work (footnote as opposed to bibliography). You will need also to check the formatting as it has been found to be inaccurate at times.
Son of Citation Machine is a free online tool for creating citations in APA, MLA and Chicago styles. Once you select your style, type in the required information for the citation and press the button, your citation will display in your selected style. This citation can be cut and pasted to your document.
Office 2007 offers citation assistance in the Word program. You can go to the tab entitled “References) on the tool bar and select the citation format you want. Highlight the elements you want formatted for you and your citation should appear. If you want a footnote at the bottom of the page, rather than a bibliographic citation for the end of a paper, you will need to use the “insert” function in Word.
Always check against the APA style manual for accuracy when using online tools for citation assistance.
Many thanks to Barbara Farah for the shape of this discussion.
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