Objectives
For the second draft of your annotated bibliography, you are required to find at least two non-print items to support your research question from Opposing Viewpoints in Context. They could either be a website, a blog, a film, a video (YouTube, TEDTalk, etc), a podcast, and any other type of non-print source.
Following the above objectives, this lecture will provide you with additional examples and exercises to help you understand how to evaluate non-print sources.
The lecture will end with introducing you to citations, which is a vital part of creating traditional bibliographies and annotated bibliographies. Note the ones to be used for non-print media.
Any questions you may have, please do not hesitate to email me or drop by my virtual office hour.
Even though the term may be unfamiliar to you, non-print media are being used a lot more, in recent times, than print. Examples includes:
It used to be that students, primarily those majoring in Communications and Media Culture, frequently integrated into the above media sources in their research. However, as these media have become the norm in the 21st Century, everyone now needs to be more adept at evaluating these sources as well. Integrating these resources into your research papers means you will have to learn how to also provide citations for them.
Believe it or not, the elements of the RADAR tool can also be used to help you evaluate all of the above media items. You can find the text version of RADAR below. Read it aloud and keep in mind websites and other non-print media as you do so.
As you have read, timeliness of some sources that you might want to use in your research depends on the topic. If your topic is historical, you may use information as far back as you wish. However, with medical or technological information, the content you use needs to be up to date and well-researched - preferably in the last three to five years. Here are three websites for you to compare using the questions on the right? Click on the URLs to review the websites.
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The Medical Library: https://www.medical-library.net/
WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/
Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/ |
Rationale: What is the purpose of this website? Is there a sponsor or advertising? Who pays to make this information possible? Authority: Is there an "About Us" webpage? Is the viewpoint of the author/org's affiliation reflected in the message? Does the information appear to be valid and well researched? Date: When was the information published? or last updated? Are links to references up-to-date? Accuracy: What is the domain? It is one to be trusted? Does the website use good grammar? Are the graphics --images, tables, charts, diagrams -- appropriate and clearly presented? Relevance: Who is the intended audience? Is the information too technical or simplified for you to use? Does the information add something new to your knowledge? |
Click on the pdf link above to view the Original Checklist from The News Literacy Project. A review of the items in this checklist will help you get through the next activity.
Non-print sources such as films and documentaries can also play a significant role in academic research. They provide a powerful visual and emotional experience that can make complex or abstract topics more relatable and easier to understand. This can enhance comprehension and aid in the retention of information easily. Documentaries, especially, often include firsthand accounts, interviews, archival footage, and expert commentary, making them valuable as primary or secondary sources, depending on the context. They offer insights into social, political, and cultural contexts, helping researchers understand how events were perceived or portrayed at a particular time.
Below are two databases: Academic Video Online and Kanopy. They include hundreds of films, video clips, and documentaries that could find sources to support your research topic. Click on the image to access the database.
Academic Video Online contains streaming videos from Alexander Street. It contains more than 66,000 titles spanning the widest range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. Collections on the platform include:
1500 films from PBS
3,000 documentaries from Film Platform
350 films from Sony Classic Pictures
The Kanopy collection consists of streaming films, which can be watched on or off campus. According to its byline, it offers the best video streaming for quality, thoughtful entertainment. It covers a full range of academic topics of foreign films, documentaries, classic films, and TV shows on academic topics.
Image taken from MLA Style Guide, 9th edition, 2021.
Image taken from MLA Style Guide, 9th edition, 2021.
When deciding whether or not an information source (e.g. a newspaper article, a magazine article, a chapter in a book, or a scholarly journal) is useful in context of your research, you will first need to evaluate each source to see if it matches your topic. RADAR 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.
| RATIONALE |
Rationale is important because books, articles, and web pages are made to serve a purpose. They can educate, entertain or sell a product or a point of view. Some sources may be frivolous or commercial in nature, providing inaccurate, false, or biased information. Other sources are more ambiguous about potential partiality. Varied points of view can be valid if they are based on good reasoning and careful use of evidence. |
| AUTHORITY |
Authority is important in judging the credibility of the author's assertions. In a trial regarding DNA evidence, a jury would find a genetics specialist's testimony far more authoritative compared to a testimony from a random person off the street. |
| DATE |
Date or currency is important to note because information can quickly become obsolete. Supporting your research with facts that have assignments require the most current information; other materials can provide valuable information such as a historical overview of your topic. In some disciplines, the date of the source is less important. |
| ACCURACY |
Accuracy is important because errors and untruths distort a line of reasoning. When you present inaccurate information, you undermine your own credibility. |
| RELEVANCE |
Relevance is important because you are expected to support your ideas with pertinent information. A source detailing Einstein's marriage would not be relevant to a paper about his scientific theories. |
Please log in to Brightspace to complete the following listed in Lessons for Week#5. Any assignment, quiz, or tutorial given in this lesson MUST be completed on or before October 14, 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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