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English Composition

This guide supports the English Composition research assignments.

Introduction to Evaluation

There isn't a checklist that determines if information is credible, trustworthy, or even appropriate for your research. Start with asking questions to determine how well a source fits your needs. Remember that the information needs to be situated in the context of your inquiry research question. 

Reminder: Always review the assignment for any source requirements.

  • How will you use this source in your research assignment?
  • What value does this source add to your research assignment?
  • Does the information relate to your research question and/or answer some aspect of it?

Evaluating Sources for Credibility

The Evaluating Sources for Credibility video (3:22 minutes) introduces the concept of evaluating information to determine a source's credibility.

  • Watch Evaluating Sources for Credibility video
  • Download Evaluate Sources Worksheet (PDF link)
  • Complete worksheet once you have found a potential source for your research assignment

Reading Scholarly Journal Articles

Scholarly (also called academic) articles are very different from news, magazine, and trade articles. The Anatomy of a Scholarly Article video (3:12 minutes) provides strategies for reading scholary articles. The Reading Scholarly Articles handout (Word file link) illustrates the structure of a scholarly article. If you decide the article you've found is relevant to your research question then carefully read each section of the article and take notes.

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