Methods of Critical Reasoning |
BGS 302 | ||
Source Analysis Assignment For this assignment, you will closely analyze a web source that you have found in the course of your research. This exercise will give you practice in critically evaluating sources according to Alexander and Tate's criteria, and will model the type of source summary and critique you should do in your research paper. Thus, the work you do in this assignment will feed directly into your research project. Directions Write a 3-5 page paper (double-spaced text, 1-inch margins; leave extra space before and after headings) which describes and closely analyzes one web source relevant to your research topic. Use the classification scheme and evaluation criteria from Alexander and Tate's website, "Evaluating Web Resources," to guide your analysis. Organize your paper according to the following sections listed below:
At the end of your paper, provide a full bibliographic citation for your source in MLA format (consult the research guide in Barnet and Bedau for guidelines). On Choosing a Web Source I've deliberately used the phrase web source instead of website for this assignment, because a website can be anything--someone's personal home page, the index page of an university, the gateway page of a corporation, a picture with a one-sentence caption, etc. In contrast, a web source is a website that's useful as a source: it contains organized information of various kinds, it usually has links to other sources, and it's fairly substantial in terms of content. In other words, you want to find a web source that has some meat to it; otherwise, you'll be frustrated in your attempt to critique it thoroughly. That said, here's the tricky part: web sources come in many varieties, and even though Alexander and Tate provide us with a very useful classification scheme, some web sources can fit in two or more classifications (as we saw in class). While we can clearly distinguish a book from a journal from a newspaper in paper format, it's not quite that simple in web format. If your source cuts across several categories, be sure to take that into account in your evaluation. In line with my generous spirit, I'll give you some leeway in determining what counts as a useful web source; in fact, you can use this assignment to convince me that your source is useful. Remember that these sources don't have to be perfect . . . that's why you're critiquing them! In other words, you're examining both the strengths and weaknesses of your source, not simply one or the other. A Note on Using Alexander and Tate's Evaluation Criteria Alexander and Tate's evaluation questions are an excellent starting point for assessing your source, but note a couple of important things. First, all of their questions are phrased in a yes-or-no manner--while this is useful in getting a quick sense of a source's credibility, you need to address the questions as if they're more open-ended. For example, you should explain why a source is objective (by referring to specific aspects of the source) rather than just noting that it is objective. Secondly, bear in mind that Alexander and Tate's questions for each of the criteria may not be exhaustive: in fact, you'll probably think of other questions to ask of your source besides those they cite. Feel free to ask them--such creativity will bolster your analysis. |
Mike Bryson Associate Professor University College Roosevelt University Mike Bryson's Home Page Last updated 05/18/05 |