Task:
EVALUATION OF SOURCES
Essay 3 is an Informative Research Essay in which you will examine various aspects of the topic you may have explored in Essay 1 and Essay 2. The essay's main purpose is to teach the audience something new about the topic. Research your topic and develop a list of at least five sources (The articles used for Essay 1 and Essay 2 may be included as two of the sources). Your sources should be credible and represent a variety of perspectives on the issue.
Apply (rather than answering "Yes" or "No") the following questions to each of the five sources you developed; in other words, evaluate each source in terms of its:
Credibility:
What evidence supports the publisher or publication's reputation for accuracy and objectivity?
Where does the writer consider opposing viewpoints?
Does the evidence seem specific, reasonable, and ample, or is it mainly anecdotal?
How can we know that the writer is an expert on the subject?
Relevance:
How can we know that the writer does not have any obvious political or religious biases?
How might the writer's associations with any special-interest groups, such as Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, or the National Rifle Association, bias his or her point of view, if at all?
Do the writer's thesis and purpose clearly relate to your problem, research question, or thesis? How so?
Does the source appear too general or too technical for your needs? How so?
Create an MS Word document sectioned by the correctly formatted APA References page entry of your source, under which you will include your answers to the above questions. Finally, in each section, explain whether you will keep the source as a part of your Essay 3.