Sources, Credibility, and Citation When you research (verb), you locate reliable information from a variety of sources. The word research (noun) also describes the information found from the search. What do you already know? Source Credible Citation Primary An account or document created by someone with firsthand knowledge or experience of an event. Letters, journal entries, blogs, eyewitness accounts, speeches, and interviews are all primary sources. Secondary Documents supplied and compiled by people who do not have firsthand knowledge of an event. History textbooks, book reviews, documentary films, websites, and most magazine and newspaper articles are secondary sources. 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. Brainpop 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 You can automatically rule out: Wikipedia Myspace Geocities Blogs Friendster Personal sites 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. Ways to tell a credible internet source: Looks professional The website doesnt 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 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 These guidelines are not 100% When in doubt, ask for help from a teacher or librarian If youre still not sure, DONT 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 Domain Suffix Description.comStands for commercial. Web sites with this suffix are created to make a profit from their Internet services. Typically these Web sites sell goods or services..orgStands for organization. Primarily used by nonprofit groups..netStands for network. Used by Internet service providers or Web-hosting companies..eduStands for education. Used by major universities or educational organizations and institutions..govStands for government. Used by local, state, and federal government sites. Its not as hard as it used to be. When you cite or provide a citation, you are following the practice of quoting or referring to sources of textual evidence. By citing research or your evidence you avoid the mistake of plagiarism, which is using or imitating another persons words or ideas without giving proper credit. If you use ANY information from a source in your paper, you must CITE it. Sources Page In-Text Citations Dr. Eric Lee, of Oak Orthopedics in Frankfort, said, 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 Basic bibliographic information includes: Author Title Source Date medium of publication. You might not always be able to find all of this information, but get as much as you can. Go to Son of Citation Machine 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. You used information from a webpage titled Time for Kids. The webpages copyright date is The organization that hosts the site is Time. The title of the article is Puppy Love. You visited the site on April 22, 2015. What information do you need that is missing from this description? The website address to find the article. love/ love/233456 If you dont ask, youll never know.