Question

You are to write a paper about evaluating sources. The paper is to be single spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font with 1” margins and at least one page long but not to exceed four pages. Answer the following questions or discuss the following items in your paper: 1. What’s the point? Why should anyone care about the validity of sources? 2. Discuss methods for evaluating sources. Are there different methods for different types of sources? 3. What is the peer review process? 4. Do moderated sites like Wikipedia meet the criteria to be considered peer reviewed? Why or Why not. 5. Are popular news magazines such as Time or Wired Magazines valuable, reliable sources of information for research papers? Why or why not? 6. What is bias and how can it effect the validity of a source?

Answer 1

EVALUATING SOURCES

1. In a research process, evaluating the source of an information is very important because, only when the information is true and reliable, the outcome of the research will be valid. If the sources are not reliable, the research done based on these information will become biased. Before using any information, the appropriateness of the information must be evaluated. A person must consider the following before using a source such as the authority of the source, accuracy of the information, its objectivity, recency of the information, and its coverage on the topic of study.

2. The methods of evaluating sources includes checking for the author, such as who is the author, is his works appropriate, where does he work, what other works has he done. Checking for the publisher such as, who is the publisher, what types of publication, when was the content published, is the publisher trustworthy. Checking for the content such as is the content related, is it supported by facts or evidences, is it objective and is it verified. An online information is checked for the appropriate publications and peer reviews, whereas the book information are checked for the author and their references.  

3. Peer review is a process of evaluation in which a person's work or his research papers are evaluated by one or more individuals who have similar competency to check its validity and suitability for publishing. It helps to filter and select works that are high in quality. It is also helpful in improving the manuscripts to suit the publisher's reputation.

4. Wikipedia cannot be considered as a peer reviewed site because, the information published in Wikipedia is not evaluated by scholars or researchers to check its validity or reliability. The information provided in the Wikipedia site can be edited by any users at any time.

5. Information from popular newspapers are not considered very credible because there are very few or no citations mentioned in the article which makes it difficult for reference. The information that are published in popular newspapers adhere to journal publishing standards, and would contain true information. However, since these works are not peer reviewed they cannot be considered as a highly credible source.

6. Biases are the systematic errors that could occur in any of the research process such in research design, selecting samples, obtaining data, evaluating data, or providing results. When a bias occurs in a research, it makes the results distorted or make the conclusions wrong. When the results have bias, the findings of the research have no use.