Critically Analyzing Sources for Research

An educational journey consists of effective study habits which will require researching various sources, managing personal/family life, and balancing work and school. Research is very important. It will either hurt you or help you, depending on your research skills and time management skills. Research helps link one’s ideas to true and tested studies that can help prove a stance on a particular subject matter. When one is able to provide information backed up by empirical studies, one’s information can begin to flourish. For example, think about the various magazines that are sold nationwide. The National Enquirer is seen to be a false, untrue magazine that provides information about subject matters that are not even true. Even though, the National Enquirer is a great attention getter, there are surmountable people who know the stories printed inside are not believable. In regards to research, students should seek out reputable sources that can enhance their writing skills which in turn will help to write a better paper. Research provides valuable knowledge for the student. The student may already know the information but the research will give added seasoning to that knowledge. Just like cooking, one knows how to cook a turkey but, it’s the seasonings that will bring the turkey to life. Those seasoning ideas may come from various individuals.

At the top of this sheet, write your name and the name of the source that you are analyzing. Respond to each of the following questions. A complete response should take no more than one to two paragraphs. Each questions is worth a total of five points.

All of the research paper must have reliable sources to prove the thesis that the writer stated in the essay. Why should we use credible sources when writing a research paper? A research paper is like a jury trial. If you’re an attorney trying to convince the jury your client is innocent, you need hard evidence. For example: When you try to convince a jury that your client is innocent by telling them he wasn 't at the crime scene, and you can prove it because his best friend said he wasn 't there. It isn 't going to work. Now conversely, when you try to convince the jury that your client is innocent because he was out of town when the crime happened. You have a hotel receipt, plane tickets, and video evidence that he was nowhere near the area at the time of the offense. That evidence is much more credible and convincing. Writing a research paper is contrasted with the jury trial, we need strong evidence to support our statement.

Scholarly and a magazine articles are alike in some ways but are different in others; one way a scholarly source differs from a magazine article would be a scholarly article has one or more authors while a magazine article would have only one author (What’s the Difference?, n.d.). Another way these article are different is a scholarly article has wording specific to the article topic, while a magazine article’s word choice may be less educated to attract a wider audience (What’s the Difference?, n.d.). Most importantly, a scholarly source is revised by experts in the specific field and a magazine article is edited by someone who may have little to no knowledge on the subject (What’s the Difference?, .n.d.).

Casey, A., & Goldman, E. (2010). Enhancing the Ability to Think Strategically: A learning model. Management Learning, 41, 167–185.

The importance of relying on scholarly - peer reviewed - articles and journals become clearer with each passing day; it is difficult to discern fact from fiction.

While writing and synthesizing this article about the impacts of war on the human mind, I used three sources that were provided that supported my thesis as well as three additional sources that I found to have developed my position further. Each source chosen provides a unique insight to the effects of war, and also takes a side on the position I have created. The three sources provided that I chose to use were The Things They Carried, American Sniper, and Nick Niday; the three additional sources were the DSM-V, “PsychCentral,” and David Pridham.

All forms of media whether scientific or medical journals to school essays and even visual media such as news broadcast all share a common thread- the requirement of credibility. Credibility is the cornerstone to any successful presentation of information. An author must examine the credibility of sources before the inclusion of any information while audience members should also review credibility to determine the validity of information presented. Credibility can be complex but by determining on the origin of the source, conducting an in-depth evaluation of the source and focusing on both utilization and citation of the source the credibility of the presentation will resonate.

The study used statistical data that was significant to the accuracy of the results. Collecting data at different ages and conditions improved the accuracy of the information. The BSID and Chi squared test measures used to determine the norms of preterm infants were appropriate. The study provided data on mortality rates and handicaps of the children in the study.

Credibility Statement: Recently I have researched this topic with the aid of various academic journals, magazines, books, and newspapers.

This worksheet is for analyzing primary sources, which for the purpose of this project are popular culture media: texts created for a mass audience with some commercial component, either through sales, subscription, or advertising revenue: advertisements, videos, television shows, news articles or programs, popular music, etc.

For centuries research has been a fundamental part of society. Research allows individuals to gain further understanding on topics, along with the ability to push the boundaries of humanity and make new discoveries. Living in the age of the internet makes it extremely easy for one to find information on just about any topic with the simple click of a mouse. However, not all of the sources individuals come across online can be relied on for professional scholarly research, nor can they always be trusted by the reader. When evaluating sources, it is important to keep in mind how current the source is, along with the accuracy of the information being presented. Furthermore, one should also be mindful of the author’s credentials, and who the

Doctoral learners/researchers must become information-literate individuals that are able to identify, locate, evaluate, organize, and communicate regarding research sources and materials. The evaluation component of information literacy includes considering the article's accuracy, objectivity, currency, authority, and relevance. Why is the skill of evaluation important for doctoral learners/researchers?

8. Do you have enough information to judge the quality of the source of the article for a college reading audience? Please explain. The information given in this article is given in a person’s experience with students also opinions from the author. The article is not backed up enough with other then his own opinion.

There are different styles of scholarly writing and each of the writing has certain format that students will have to follow for their field of study. Research paper is one of the writing that students will encounter in their major classes. In my past Child Development class, especially CHDV 123 writing research paper was required in the class. After writing the literature review about observation and how the observer have to be sure that the information he or she present have to be valid, it made me think about credibility in research writing which help me develop my research question. Furthermore, with the research paper, we as students have to make sure that our research has credibility or the research is not valid. Therefore, credibility is crucial in this field. However, as a student who major in Child Development, we focus more on qualitative research which requires us to make sure that there is credibility in our paper. By having credibility in our paper, it allows us to build trustworthiness in our research and eliminating the bias in our research. According to Kopala, she states that, “Trustworthiness also encompasses efforts to reduce or at the very least to make explicit sources of bias by the researcher.” (30) In this research report, my research question was wondering the importance of having credibility in research writing for Child Development major?” In this research, I will be using two different methods to