Objectives:
Lecture #4 will introduce you to locating and evaluating articles. But first you need to read Chapter 6 from Choosing and Using Sources before you start this lecture. Links are also available in Brightspace.
Your 1st draft of your annotated bibliography requires you to find three articles from Academic Search Complete. You were introduced to this database last week in Lecture #3 and this week's lecture will show you how to evaluate sources you may find.
Following the above objectives, this lecture will introduce you to search strategies and techniques for locating and retrieving articles in databases for newspapers, magazines, and journals. Please pay attention so that you may mimic these exercises [demonstrated] when you are ready to begin research on your chosen topic for your annotated bibliography.
You will also be introduced to RADAR, a framework developed to judge or critique the quality of sources. You will find this framework very helpful to use in other courses that will require you to do research papers.
We are half way through the course!
Any questions you may have, please do not hesitate to email me or drop by my virtual office hour.
**Video by IRSC Libraries (creative commons license)
RADAR (Rationale, Authority, Date, Accuracy, Relevance) is a framework that can help you remember what kinds of questions you should be asking about an information source as you evaluate it for quality and usefulness in your research.
Radar method can help you evaluate sources of information. But this is only part of the solution to separating truth from fiction in the information we encounter. Better information habits are required of us. Until we apply skepticism and critical thought to the information that aligns with our world views just as we would for information that challenges us, we set ourselves up to be fooled by fake news. Until we expand our information bubbles to include more perspectives and coverage from a more diverse community of scholars and reporters, we limit what we can know and learn about our world.
Being a critical consumer of information is helpful not only in school, but also in our daily lives. Just as we need the information in our college research projects to be based on reliable, quality sources, we also want the health advice, product reviews, and other kinds of information we personally use to be reliable.
Read the description of the three publications below and think about, as you read, how different they are and how each may meet any or all of the criteria of relevance, quality, objectivity, and date coverage.
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Journal of Science teacher (JSTE) is the flagship journal of the Association foe Science teacher Education. it serves as a forum for disseminating high quality research and theoretical position papers concerning pre-service and in-service education of science teachers. The journal features pragmatic articles that offer ways to improve classroom teaching and learning, professional development, and teacher recruitment and retention at pre K-16 levels. Coverage: 1989-2002; 2005-present. |
Scientific American is the world's premier magazine of scientific discovery and technological innovation for the general public. Readers turn to it for a deep understanding of how science and technology can influence human affairs and illuminate the natural world. Its readers are not primarily scientists; to the extent that they have technical backgrounds, they read Scientific American for information about areas outside their expertise. In every issue, leading scientists, inventors and engineers from diverse fields describe their ideas and achievements in clear and accessible prose; the work of select journalists rounds out the offerings. The graphics are rich in content and visual style. Coverage: 1948-1950; 1958 - present. |
Science is a leading outlet for scientific news, commentary, and cutting-edge research. Through its print and online incarnations, Science reaches an estimated worldwide readership of more than one million. Science's authorship is global too, and its articles consistently rank among the works most cited research. Science seeks to publish those papers that are the most influential in their fields or across fields and that will significantly advance scientific understanding. Selected papers should present novel and broadly important data, syntheses, or concepts. They should merit recognition by the wider scientific community and general public provided by the publication in Science, beyond that provided by specialty journals. Science welcomes submissions from all fields of science and from any source. The editors are committed to the prompt evaluation and publication of submitted paper while upholding high standards that support reproducibility of published research. Science is published weekly; selected papers are published online ahead of print. Coverage: 1880 - present. |
Given the above descriptions, which of the above titles do you think is a Peer-Reviewed Journal? Submit your answer in the anonymous poll below:
| Self-Quiz on Usefulness |
| Instructions: Select one of the following sources as most useful for a research paper on the current use of primates in scientific laboratories: |
| a. "Monkeys in our Labs," by Scott Gottieber, a USA Today staff writer. Published in the newspaper, USA Today, Dec 15, 1989. Includes chart, "Number of Test Primates in the US, 1975-1985." |
| b. Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group website. LPAG is a nonprofit organization. Website last updated, 2001. " LPAG believes that the lab is no place of monkeys and nonhuman great apes." |
| c. "Record Number of Monkey being used in U.S. Research." by David Grimm. Published by the American Association of the Advancement of Science. Appeared in Science, a scholarly publication on November 2, 2018. |
Please log in to Brightspace to complete the following listed in Lessons for Week #4. Any assignment, quiz, or tutorial given in this lesson MUST be completed on or before October 7, 2025 and submitted by 11:30pm.
CREDIT: With permission, partial content on this web page was adapted from the University of Idaho Information Literacy Portal.
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