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Credible Sources. Don’t Listen to the Village Idiot. Credibility. Definition: 1.capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement. 2.worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness. Credibility is important! If your research is flawed, so is your argument.
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Credible Sources Don’t Listen to the Village Idiot
Credibility • Definition: 1.capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement. 2.worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness. • Credibility is important! • If your research is flawed, so is your argument. • If you use credible sources, you can believe them, and your readers can believe you.
How do I know if my sources are credible? • Most books you find in library nonfiction are credible. • Most large newspapers are credible. • New York Times • Charlotte Observer • Washington Post • Scholarly journals are usually credible. • JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) • Most government publications are credible. • Reputable organizations are usually credible. • American Cancer Society • World Health Organization • American Red Cross • Most information from colleges is credible. • .edu websites
How do I know if my sources are credible? • You can automatically rule out: • Wikipedia • Myspace • Geocities • Blogs • Friendster • Personal sites
Using the Internet for Research • The internet offers the BEST information on MANY topics. • The internet offers the WORST information on MOST topics. • You can use internet resources for research papers, but you have to be careful.
Credible Internet Sources • Ways to tell a credible internet source: • Looks professional • The website doesn’t look like it was made by a 4-year-old with a crayon • All or most links are working • Information offered is easy to verify • The website offers links to where they found their information • The sources of their information is also credible
Credible Internet Sources • It is easy to contact the owners of the website for more information or to ask questions • The site is up to date • Information from 1991 is not listed as “recent” • There are no errors • The site uses proper spelling and grammar • The website is appropriate • There is no inappropriate language, graphics, or photos
Credible Internet Sources • These guidelines are not 100% • When in doubt, ask for help from a teacher or librarian • If you’re still not sure, DON’T use it • Be careful with .com sites • All .com sites are trying to sell something, which means they are all biased in some way • Sites with lots of advertisements are usually less credible
Citing Sources With MLA It’s not as hard as it used to be.
Citing Works in Research Papers • If you use ANY information from a source in your paper, you must CITE it. • Works Cited Page • In-Text Citations • If you didn’t say it yourself and you don’t cite it, it is plagiarism. • Plagiarism can result in: • A zero for the assignment • A requirement to redo the entire assignment • In college, plagiarism may fail you for an entire course • In college, plagiarism may result in expulsion, with no tuition refund
Plagiarism • Is much easier to spot than it used to be • Doesn’t take very long for a teacher to check • A teacher can type 10 words of your paper into a search engine, and within seconds, compare it to tens of thousands of other papers that have already been written • In high school, many teachers believe that you are guilty until proven innocent of plagiarism • Is easy to avoid • Citation makers • MLA style sheets
How to Cite Sources • Citation makers will write your works cited page for you if you have the right information on your sources • Books, articles, and websites are all cited differently • The more information you have, the better • When you find a source that you think you can use, you need to make sure you have several things
Making Citations • Your checklist: • Author • Title • Publication company • Publication location • Publication date • Page numbers • Date accessed online • Editor • ENTIRE web address • You might not always be able to find all of this information, but get as much as you can.
Citation Maker • Go to Son of Citation Machine http://citationmachine.net/ • Click on “MLA” at the top left of the page. • Click on the type of source you want to cite. • Fill in the boxes for your source. • Click “Submit”. Voila! Your citation is written.
Questions and Answers If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.