ENG ESSAY

6

Unit V

Lesson 4: Gathering Examples in Support of Three Points

Introduction

In the previous lesson, we discussed ways that you could come up with three points that explicate your main idea/topic. In Lesson 2 of this unit, we looked at two different models for the illustration essay: single-example and multiple-example. In each of these models, the essay develops three points that are then supported by an example for each point. These examples are illustrations as we defined them in Lesson 1. In Lesson 1, we also looked at different types of examples that could be used to support different types of illustrations: precise, general, and hypothetical. Now that we understand these concepts, let’s look at how you will gather materials to create your illustrations.

What Makes for a Reliable Source?

Many times, professors will tell students that they need to find reliable sources to support their assertions. What does it mean to find a reliable source? Before we answer this question, let’s establish a few concepts first.

Opinion vs. Argument

We have all heard the statements “You are entitled to your opinion” and “Well, that’s just your opinion.” So what exactly is an opinion? An opinion is a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty. An opinion can be based upon a person’s beliefs or preferences. However, just because someone believes something does not make that thing true. Opinions are reserved for things like food preference or favorite music. A person might describe why vanilla is the best flavor of ice cream, but there is no objective means of measuring flavor. This same person may have reasons as to why vanilla is superior to chocolate, but just because someone has reasons does not make a thing true. Further, just because someone has reasons does not mean that the person is creating an argument.

What makes something an argument? An argument is meant to persuade an audience member through the presentation of evidence and reasoning. An argument is dynamic, always prepared to change if the evidence changes. For example, if there is a new treatment for cancer, researchers supporting older methods of treatment may have to revise their positions. These positions, or arguments, are based on evidence and reasoning, not personal preference or beliefs.

What does this distinction have to do with finding illustrations to support your three points? You want to find source materials that are evidence-based and that are based in solid reasoning. Further, you want to find real-world examples from legitimate sources that have put a great deal of effort into checking and double-checking the evidence. You do not want to base your assertions upon source material in which the writer has hastily rushed to a conclusion because shaky evidence seemingly confirms his or her opinion. Instead, you want to include material from a credible source—from someone who is an expert.

Credibility and Expertise

How does a person establish credibility? Credibility is built over time through the attainment of expertise; a credible person is trustworthy. People become experts through professional means either by the acquisition of academic degrees or through experience working with a certain thing. An expert can be someone who experiences something firsthand as well, but it should be noted that someone with on-the-job experience or someone with an academic degree is more credible than someone without these.

Therefore, when you are seeking sources that contain viable illustrations, you want to look for professional sources written by experts in the field or in the area. For example, if you wanted to illustrate the reasons you think your favorite sports team is the best, then you will want to support your points with materials from experts in the field of sports. Perhaps you would include a quotation from a famous sportscaster who praises the team, or you might include details about why a star player is strong in the sport, thereby making the team the strongest in the league. You might also include statistical information from a reputable source that presents the players’ individual stats. These are all reliable sources of information from credible experts. You would not want to include the opinions of another fan from his or her blog or information from Wikipedia because while the people who contribute to these genres are knowledgeable, they are not experts, meaning that they could include inaccurate information. Experts put their professional credibility on the line every time they make a statement or present information. That is why a professional source’s retraction is so scandalous. However, if a non-expert makes a mistake, then the consequences are minimal, so the motivation to be correct in all things is not always present; this distinction is the reason you always want to consult experts for all of your information.

The Location of Research

Many times, the location of the research can tell you a great deal about the expertise of the person presenting it. On the previous slide, blogs and Wikipedia were mentioned as electronic locations where information is not credible enough to meet academic standards. Let’s discuss some locations where information is credible.

· Library: Most of the information that you find in a brick-and-mortar library is going to be credible. The benefit of gathering information from a library is that you can always consult with a librarian about the credibility of your source materials. In most libraries, you will also be able to search for journal articles from reputable publications.

· Online library: CSU has an amazing library that contains thousands of e-books that you can view to obtain cutting-edge research. In addition, the CSU Online Library has many databases that contain electronic copies of journal articles that are peer reviewed for accuracy. You will remember our discussion of double-blind peer review from Unit I, Lesson 4.

· Reputable news sources: In Lesson 2 of this unit, we discussed ways that you might generate a topic, and one of those ways was to watch the news for current events. Therefore, it only makes sense that reputable news sources are considered reliable sources. Examples of these news sources will be network news outlets: AP News, The Economist, BBC, NPR, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, USA TODAY, Google News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. These fourteen news sources are the most trusted for accurate reporting, so these are excellent places to find information.

Reliability, Validity, and Accuracy

When considering a source, you always want to ask yourself if the source is reliable, valid, and accurate. Reliability means that a person is dependable—especially for being accurate or honest. It does nothing for your own credibility if the materials you use are anything less than reliable, valid, and accurate. Therefore, you should strive to use only sources that can be trusted because they come from credible experts. Because there are many different types of source material out there, you want to ensure that you do not use misinformation or partial information. If you use something from the news, you want to be sure that you can find the same news story from another source, thereby verifying it as reliable.

Avoiding Bias

Another element to consider when determining if a source is reliable is bias, which is a particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion—especially preconceived or unreasoned. Oftentimes, we think of special interest groups as being biased, but this is not always the case. There is also the possibility that not all the websites you visit are presenting information accurately or without bias. In these instances, the reason and manner in which the information is presented may be intentionally or unintentionally misleading. Of course, you want to avoid information from these types of sites. Unless the organization is one that has an established history, like the American Cancer Society, then you likely want to avoid websites that ask for donations to causes. In some of these instances, these websites can be fronts for donation scams, and the information presented on such sites is not confirmed for accuracy. We will discuss more about legitimate websites later on in this lesson.

Primary Sources and Secondary Sources

In Unit I of this course, we discussed audience, genre, and academic writing. In our discussion of genre, we discussed public and business writing (Unit I, Lesson 3) and academic writing (Unit I, Lessons 4, 5, 6, and 7). Additionally, we discussed the differences between public and business writing and academic writing. Perhaps most importantly for our purposes in this present unit, we discussed spheres of influence, which were listed as private (personal), public (non-business), business (work-related), and academic (university-related). We studied the genres of public and business writing and what is valued in such writing.

There are differences in public and business writing and academic writing, mainly in the ways that these spheres of influence identify credibility. As we discussed above, credibility can come in many forms based on what is considered expertise in a particular field.

Primary Sources

There are two kinds of sources; regardless of whether they are print published or electronically published, the two types of sources are primary sources and secondary sources. A primary source is a document or physical object that was created during a particular period of time and provides insight to the time period. A primary source is a direct result of an event or period. Examples of primary sources are the following:

· Original documents from the time period: first-hand news reports, nonfiction books and manuscripts, autobiographies, letters, diaries, memoirs, speech/oratory transcriptions, film footage, charters, correspondence, interviews (about a current event), pamphlets, personal narratives, research data and surveys, and official records of any kind

· Creative works (both textual and physical): fiction works; plays, movies, and other dramatic works; music, both recorded or in sheet music form; poetry; photography; and artwork

· Artifacts: everyday items produced during a particular time period such as automobiles, architecture, fashion clothing, furniture styles, and kitchen items

Secondary Sources

A secondary source examines, interprets, and analyzes a primary source. Examples include both public and business writing and academic writing. In this way, a secondary source is removed from the event or time period as the examination of the primary source takes place after the initial event or time period. Let’s look at some examples of secondary sources:

· Public and business writing: magazine or news outlet articles, history of something, critiques, commentaries, business reports, annual business plans

· Academic writing: textbooks, reviews, essays, academic journal articles, lab reports, history of something, critiques and commentaries, scholarly books

Tertiary Sources

While primary and secondary sources are considered the two basic types of sources, there is an additional type of source material with which you should be familiar: the tertiary source. A tertiary source is one that provides an overview or summary of a topic. It is important to note that, unlike a secondary source, tertiary sources do not include examinations, interpretations, or analysis. A tertiary source may contain primary and secondary source materials in the text as cited material; in this way, a tertiary source may act as reference material. Further, a tertiary source may even be a collection of primary and/or secondary sources.

· Informational: encyclopedias, abstracts, textbooks, almanacs, Wikipedia articles (see the information below about Wikipedia)

· Collections: directories, databases of any kind, catalogues, bibliographies, discographies

Print Publishing vs. Electronic Publishing

Electronic publishing has come a long way since the advent of the Internet. Sometimes referred to as digital publishing, electronic publishing is now easier than ever, allowing people to post their thoughts, feelings, and concerns on websites. Wikipedia is often seen as one of the greatest successes in electronic publishing because of its wide use. However, even though millions of people across the globe use it each day, Wikipedia is not considered a reliable source. Why is that? Wikipedia has user-created content, meaning that the articles that you read on the website are written by people who may or may not have traditional expertise in that particular area. As a result, the information may not be entirely accurate or properly researched. This reason alone places Wikipedia in an unreliable category. Many times, professors will tell students that Wikipedia is a good place to begin their research because they may be able to gain basic information. However, the real research begins when they seek out specific information from credible experts.

Today, many print publishers also make their materials available online for electronic reading. With the rise of e-readers, the amount of print publishing has diminished, and many publishers have switched to a predominately electronic publishing business. As such, this is a great time to be a student and a researcher as materials are available sooner and in a wider variety than ever before. You just have to be careful about the sources you rely upon.

Interrogating a Source for Reliability

Above, we discussed ways that you can identify different types of sources, so now let’s look at ways that you can differentiate between sources that are reliable and unreliable. When considering a source, ask yourself some questions about it:

· Is it current? When was the document published? Is the source too outdated to lend credibility to your own argument? You want your information to be current because outdated information can lead to you basing your argument on results or arguments that have already been disproven.

· Is it related to the topic? How is this source illustration related to the point that you are trying to make in this paragraph? How does this illustration help to support the thesis statement? Certainly, you do not want to include materials that are not related to your topic or that are only somewhat related. For this question, you need to consider which of the two essay models you will be using. In other words, will you be using the single-example model or the multiple-example model? The one that you choose may help you to know whether or not an illustration is related enough to your thesis to be included in the essay.

· Is it unbiased? Is the author able to write about the topic in an objective manner? Is the information presented accurately? Can you easily decipher the author’s expertise or educational background? Earlier on in this lesson, we looked at bias and what it is. You want to make sure that the source is attempting to maintain objectivity. Judging objectivity is the only way to determine whether or not the author is presenting you with information that is true to the best of his or her ability.

· Is the source propaganda? Is the source attempting to sell anything? Does the material seem to promote one particular worldview or agenda over others? Propaganda is complicated because it asks the audience to accept the simplest explanations for relationships, causation, and effects. In this way, propaganda can use partial facts or half-truths to incite the audience to accept a set of beliefs without question because the underlying principle seems irrefutable—even moral. However, because the rationale of propaganda is based upon beliefs that must be accepted without question and reasoning that cannot stand up to questioning, materials from propaganda cannot be used to support logical, reasonable, and evidence-based arguments.

Review

1. An opinion is a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.

2. An argument is meant to persuade an audience member through the presentation of evidence and reasoning.

3. You want to find source materials that are evidence-based and that are based in solid reasoning.

4. Credibility is built over time through the attainment of expertise; a credible person is trustworthy.

5. An expert can be someone who experiences something firsthand as well, but it should be noted that someone with on-the-job experience or someone with an academic degree is more credible than someone without these.

6. Credible materials come from libraries, online libraries, and reputable news sources.

7. When considering a source, you always want to ask yourself if the source is reliable, valid, and accurate.

8. Reliability means that a person is dependable—especially for being accurate or honest.

9. Bias is a particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling, or opinion, especially preconceived or unreasoned, and it should be avoided when writing evidence-based arguments.

10. There are two kinds of sources; regardless of whether they are print published or electronically published, the two types of sources are primary sources and secondary sources.

11. A primary source is a document or physical object that was created during a particular period of time and gives insight into the time period. Examples include original documents from the time period, creative works, and artifacts.

12. A secondary source examines, interprets, and analyzes a primary source. Examples include both public and business writing and academic writing.

13. A tertiary source provides an overview or summary of a topic or is a collection of both primary and secondary sources. Examples include both informational sources and collections.

14. When considering a source, ask yourself some questions about it: Is it current? Is it related to the topic? Is it unbiased? Is the source propaganda?