What we read
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
These are the three questions that Bixby and Scanlon invite us to discuss in "Over to you."
Think about them for a minute or two and then write a quick response in two or three paragraphs.
Your response will be easier for readers to follow if you do not number your answer. Give enough background to make it clear what issue (question) you are discussing.
Think about them for a minute or two and then write a quick response in two or three paragraphs.
Your response will be easier for readers to follow if you do not number your answer. Give enough background to make it clear what issue (question) you are discussing.
- What are the potential problems with not evaluating Internet sources before using them in research?
- Is this true only of Internet sources?
- What are some other things that are important to keep in mind when using the Internet for academic research?
- The next time you use the Internet for research purposes, what might you do differently? Which tips from the list on page 86 will you try?
- Do you disagree with with any of the tips?
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful reading & writing: Student's book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education
The first thing I thought of was that it doesn't matter whether a source is online, in a paper book, or some other traditional form: you still have to evaluate the source critically. There was a lot of garbage published in books for centuries before anyone had thought of the Internet. I think the same criteria we use to judge Internet sources apply to any other source.
ReplyDeleteI also don't agree entirely with a couple of the tips. While it's not a good idea to cite an encyclopaedia as a source, sometimes it might be reasonable, for example to give a simple fact that is unlikely to be wrong. Also, Internet encyclopaedias can be very reliable: Wikipedia, for example, has been found to be as reliable as the traditional paper encyclopaedias that came before it, such as Britannica. The problem with encyclopaedias is that they are not primary sources, and it's better to cite a primary source rather than a secondary source ("It says that he says that ...") or a tertiary source ("Wikipedia says that an article in the NYT says that President Trump said that ..."). However, an encyclopaedia can be a great place to start finding more useful primary sources.
And depending on your purposes, which tip number 1 suggests we be clear about, a source that is not up do date might actually be more useful. For example, if you are writing a paper comparing changing attitudes to gay rights, it might be very useful to look at material from before the 1970s to find out exactly what people were saying then.
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ReplyDeleteRegarding the first question, it might be dangerous if you keep using unreliable sources and don't check the credibility of the source prior the usage. For example in academic writing, it requires the credibility of the source like the author's education and training, contact information, references to respected organisations, citations, and a bibliography of references. If it is unreliable, then other people who look at your work might not be able to cite your work as the reference since the composition of the work itself is not credible.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to refer to fact such as statistics from reliable source such as national statistics department of the country or using information from national bank or international development banks for reliable sources. This will also impact the result of your analysis if the source is not reliable. Academic research requires quite substantive credibility since it has potential to publish in international journal or paper. This will be cited by other researcher as well and it needs trusted sources. It will even go for national policy recommendation in some cases, hence reliable source of information is necessary.
I think tips 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 are really important and fully agree on that. Tip 1 will give a scope of your research how should we dig down for more information both vertically and horizontally. Then tips 2,3, 5 are kind of similar aspects, that they remind writers to make sure that it is important to check the origin of the source. Tip 6 is very helpful when the writer want to rewrite the bibliography in the report but I would suggest keeping only relevant links or references in order to save time when you need to reorganize references in the report. So most of tips are useful and helpful, and I would agree for all. These tips must be applicable to other kind of sources, e.g. books, journals, papers, etc.
Of courses not, there are plenty of sources we can go through to obtain what we are looking for, but nowadays, among development of technology, everybody can access internet everywhere, everytime and every place. Thus, doing research by searching on internet is an effective method to get information and idea. Yet, not all of the sources we can rely on because search-engine company like Google, they still needs profit to run the busssiness. Sometimes, unuseful or indirect link appears at the first or second one after searching due to being a sponsor. It would be better to keep looking for several other links, and then compare how different information there is. Especially, information from page 86, can assist and help us to evaluate sources. However, I think that not all of tips is correct because nowadays encyclopedia like Wikipedia is accepted to be a reliable source of information
ReplyDeleteWhen I use the internet sources to access new information, get the news, do assignments and for academic research. Sometimes I see the fake information although that site could credible so that it is the problem for me to check in another source to support them. However, the important things when I use internet for my purposes I should focus on what I want to know or I want to get, it makes me easy to use the internet and do not waste time.
ReplyDeleteThe site that I can check facts such as numeric statistics, I think it can check only one source that credibility because there are the office that they collect these numerical statistics that's why I disagree with check facts on multiple sources.
If we don't check Internet sources before using them to research, they will cause a problem because in Internet, some information are right and some information are wrong. So, if we don't check them first, We might get a wrong information. This thing is true for any sources not only an Internet source but also textbooks and newspaper because they might be wrong too.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that important to keep in mind when using the internet for academic research is "Don't forget to give credit to your source.". This is important because if they're something that you copied from them, they'll be problems.
The next time I use the Internet for research purpose, I will try keeping good records, I've never done it before because I don't know about bookmarks but now I've known about bookmarks so, I'll try it. I don't think that checking facts by using many websites is good because many websites is just copy each other for example, the first one and the second one might wrote exactly same thing and have slightly difference to the third one so, I don't think that it is good idea to check facts by using many online sources.
The huge problems of using not evaluated Internet sources is, when you use these sources in your research, this would make your research not trustworthy since you might get inaccurate or outdated information. In addition, you might not get all information you want from those sources or lead to a different topics which would make you feel confused and misleading from what you are looking for. These would apply for any other sources.
ReplyDeleteThere are some other things that you should keep in mind when using the Internet for academic research such as, how many sources you are using, you should use more than a source to be able to avoid author's bias.
I think I would apply all these tips from the list since I totally agree with all those, and also, I would try the strategies from the second paragraph.
The potential problems with not evaluating internet source before using them in research are the research will not credibility for using references to other research because sources of research we do not know the cites that we refer is credibility and up to date or not, moreover, the sources mostly will not from specialist sources ans a lot of sources we can edit the website like Wikipedia so we do not know who is reading or changing the words. In my opinion , No, it is not only true for internet sources every kind of sources must check also.
ReplyDeleteThe other impotent to keep in mind when using the internet for academic research are using the keyword of your topic research to find and the information that found would answer the question of your academic research.Foe example the books have to check who is writer.
I might use taking notes after I reading and adding to bookmarking in one PC , I agree with the tips
The potential problem if I not evaluating the sources before using, I might get a received incorrect information and make me confuse about my research.
ReplyDeleteWhen I using the internet for academic research I should to check credibility and make sure that the information I've get is updated regularly because it's may contain some incorrect information and make my research a mistake.And the next time I use the internet for research purposes I'll check about the facts and figure on multiple sources to make an accuracy on two or three websites that I got for my research.
If I don't check information before I use it sometimes information that I get in internet sources isn't current.I think the important thing when using the Internet for academic research is information must current because if it isn't current in past it might be right but now it might be wrong.So,I will check dates on websites and make sure that information is current.
ReplyDelete