Reference no: EM133770917

Assignment

Now that you have found a variety of source options on your research topic, your task is to narrow and focus your source selections even further. You initially found four academic sources and now, you need to narrow from those four to the two most relevant, informative, and academic sources from your findings. You will need to evaluate those sources to determine what makes them relevant, scholarly, and appropriate for your research interest. Perhaps no step of the Inquiry Process is more difficult: you have to decide what to accept, what to refute, and what information can be trusted as you sift through the wide array of voices clamoring to share their information with you.

Think of this step as the place where you seek to uncover what makes a source relevant for your specific research interest. You must be able to trust and defend your research, and that process begins with understanding, critiquing, and trusting your sources.

To properly evaluate a source, you need to take the following steps:

First, visit this Library page and read about primary and secondary sources (be sure to review the various tabs):

Second, you need to review and answer the following questions (as well as the CRAAP Test) about the sources you have found:

A. Why was this source written?

B. What is the main claim of the source?

C. Who is the audience of this source?

D. Who is the author, and what makes this important?

E. Is the source peer-reviewed?

F. Is the publication trustworthy? How do you know?

G. How do you know if the source qualifies as a secondary or primary source?

H. Does the source rely on other primary and secondary sources to make its claims?

I. What does this source contribute to your research topic?

J. Why did you finalize this source as one of your final options?

K. What is the connection between this source and your research question?

L. How does this source connect to your academic and undergraduate career?

M. What makes this source important to you?

N. How does the source's main argument advance your understanding of a particular research issue?

O. How will you use this source to prepare yourself to engage the research issue?

P. If you chose Path #1 for the Inquiry Project Portfolio, consider how you will use this information to prepare yourself for in-class discussion, as well as for your academic career.

Q. If you chose Path #2 for the Inquiry Project Portfolio, consider how this source better informs you as a member of an academic discipline and how it directly connects to your research question and interests.