Today, my Critical Thinking and Writing class was in the library with the lovely librarian Gail. She had a lot to teach us about investigating, evaluating and introducing sources. Now thinking back on it, the process you undergo when finding/using a source is similar to finding a boyfriend/girlfriend, or really any friend!
I know it’s cheesy but…
Let me show you what I mean:
- Investigating – Before you agree to date a person or be their friend, you want to know who they are. You wouldn’t want to be hanging out with a fugitive and not know it!! It’s similar to finding a source: before you commit to one, you kinda have to play detective and look below the surface. This includes looking up the author(s) to see what they studied, what they do for a living, where they are from, etc. This also includes looking up the journal or whatever the container (as MLA likes to call it) to see what type of publication it is.
- Evaluating – This is where you decide if you decide if the relationship is really going to go anywhere; you have to figure out if you can trust the person or not. For sources, you have to assess the author’s ethos and whether they are qualified to talk about the given topic. You have to decide if the journal/container in which the source comes from is well-regarded, biased, peer-reviewed, etc. If not, then ditch the source and move on to the next.
- Introducing – If a boyfriend/girlfriend makes it home to meet the parents, you have to be confident in your choice. The pressure isn’t just on the boyfriend/girlfriend though, you have to introduce them to your parents in the right way. This is the same with sources; if a source makes it into your paper, it better be a good one. But, you have to introduce them correctly, highlighting all the key information. For example, if you include a source in a paper about depression, you should probably bring up the fact that the author is a clinical psychologist and the article was published in one of the American Psychology Association’s journals.
Thanks for reading!