Final Unit

Concentration?• Numerous college

admissions were asked the following question:

• “What is the skill most lacking in your incoming freshmen?”

• Research Skills• The ability to FIND

information/sources, as well as JUDGE the worth of information/sources

Outcomes / Graded Assignments

• What will you create? What will you be graded on in this unit?

• Short research paper (2-3 pages)• Many small assignments:• Works Cited• Annotated Works Cited• Using Databases• Plagiarism • Citing & Paraphrasing

Please note• This unit will be completed in many small pieces• Most of the assignments will begin class, and

then you will finish them at home• IMPORTANT: Because of this, if you’re sick or

absent, you MUST keep in touch or you will fall sorely behind – and you can’t make up 4th marking period material after it ends…

First lesson and assignment

• Finding and using source… yeah!• Why don’t teachers like students to just do

random searches on Google and use whatever they find?

• We’re sadistic• No; it’s because we’re concerned

with the VERIFIABILITY of sources/information

• “Octopus” example

Verifiability• Definition: the ability to determine the truth or

falseness of something, i.e. online sources• Tied to the idea of “peer-reviewed”• Definition: when a source has been read and

approved by a professional in the field, i.e. a peer

Judging “peer-reviewed”ness

• Level #1 (GOOD sources)• Databases:• The only sources that are on

databases are PUBLISHED material, i.e. they’re “peer-reviewed”

• Using the databases is KEY to learning how to research at a high school and college level

Other Level 1 Sources

• .gov• Books!• Reliable

newspapers (not the “opinion” section)

• Reliable magazines

Level 2

• .edu• Usually good, but make sure it’s by a

professor and not a student project

Level 3

• .org• You need to be a real organizations to get

these sites• But they’re not monitored, especially not by

professionals in the field

Level 4

• .com• .net• These aren’t good

Other level 4• Wikipedia:• Not a BAD source• But… not written by

experts in the field and not monitored by professionals in the field

• Therefore, not peer-reviewed

• Therefore, not verifiable• Therefore, not a good

source

Assignment #1

• Find a source in each category

• For each, write 2-3 sentences analyzing the verifiability of the source

• Explain if it can be trusted or not and WHY

Assignment Model

• A) source’s title• B) the source’s level• C) your analysis