Sources
I have been currently working on a research paper for another class on global trade in Turkey. So for this assignment I have decided to just use a few sources from this to evaluate. I evaluate the credibility of sources for research papers based on where and who the information came from, also the date, time, and place where the information was found. I always like to find sites that are government affiliated or at least some sort of expert in the field of the information I am looking for. The paper I am writing on Turkey is more specifically about trading textiles and apparel with the U.S. So I would prefer to find sources like University research journals, where the information is clearly legitimate and found based on field experience and tests. Also any government sponsored site focusing on the world of textiles and apparel would be highly accurate information. A textbook or encyclopedia is also sources I would find credible.
Any information that came from sites like Wikipedia I don’t use ever for research papers, because there is just too high of a chance that the information will be skewed or even false. I find myself questioning the credibility of this website more than not just because of the way the information is published and filtered. If I am reading through information and see a discrepancy, or something that just doesn’t seem right I usually then look at the date it was published. In relation to my paper on Turkey I have to be sure to find current statistics because the economy world wide changes so drastically, so information found in 2005 might not be valid today. I do feel that some information based on the sit it came from is more believable than others. I tend not to trust as much information found on websites where there doesn’t seem to be a legitimate source of where that information came from. So if it is published by a third party, at that point information gets distorted, much like the game of telephone if you will.
As a teacher I would evaluate a students research skills based on a few things. One I would look to see if the information is actually accurate and where they found it. I would also look to see if the student used a variety of sources. Textbooks and any library resources are somewhat unique these days. I think in today’s world we have the advantage of the internet and I think it is a great place to find an array of sources as long as they were using this to their advantage. I think journals online in PDF format are a unique internet source if you don’t have time or access to a library to find the hardcopy.
Ercan , Emine (2002, Fall). Jouranl of Textiles and Apparel, Technology and Management.
NC State Univercity, 2, Retrieved 2/7/2009, from http://www.tx.ncsu.edu/jtatm/volume2issue4/articles/ercan/ercan_full_47_02.pdf
(2007). Textile & Apparel Industry and Technical Textiles in Turkey.
General Secretariat of ITKIB, Retrieved 2/7/2009, from http://www.itkib.org.tr/english/reports/TECHNICAL%20TEXTILES%20IN%20TURKEY.pdf
(2009). Turkey’s political pipelines. Energy Risk, Retrieved 2/7/2009,
from http://www.energyrisk.com/public/showPage.html?page=819442
Brittany Stewart Said:
on February 13, 2009 at 4:27 am
I completely agree with how you evaluate legitimate sources. I too look at the author of a source, when the article was written and whether the author is an expert in the field they are writing about. I do this to as you mentioned, ensure I am not basing my paper and opinions on facts that are years old. I want to make sure my information is current and relevant to my topic. Although I had never thought about checking an article to see if it was government affiliated. I assume this is because most often when professors assign written work they use scholarly journals as examples of acceptable sources. I will keep this idea in mind for my next assignment.
However, I will have to admit that I do use Wikipedia when writing papers. While I do not quote information from this site I do use it as a way of looking up “history” information. For instance, I use the site much like someone may use whitepages.com to look up a phone number when they forget the last four digits. I use the site for FYI information for myself. In your evaluation as a teacher, I agree that today we have an advantage of using the internet to view a variety of sources in such little time. Yet, we must monitor our usage to be sure not to fall victim to psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg’s Internet Addiction Disorder as he suggests “The greater use of the Internet has a detrimental effect on one’s well-being” (102).