Phase Five - Responding to Sources

While effective research includes finding, summarizing, and assessing the credibility of different sources (what you've done through your blog posts so far), effective research means you enter an ongoing conversation. Research is not a one way street where you simply accumulate as much information as possible and then compile it for your audience.

Effective writers interact with, or respond to, their research. In fact, when you begin writing your Formal Analytical Report (the end goal of all this research), you want your research to act as the supporting -- not primary -- voice in your report. Your thoughts, informed opinions, perspectives, and proposals should lead the way. To ensure that your sources don't hijack your voice in your paper, you should start interacting with your sources now.

How do you interact with your sources? Follow these instructions:

1. Locate a credible source on your topic. You can do an internet or library search but your source must be credible. At the beginning of your post, include an APA References citation for the source.
2. Summarize the source, indentifying the central issues or arguments made by the writer/creator.
3. Identify one or two specific passages or segments that interest you. Respond to these passages by answering at least two of the following questions:
• In what way did the passage or segment surprise you? Why?
• What did the passage or segment teach you that did not already know? How is that information helpful in answering your research questions?
• Did an idea in the passage or segment strike you as illogical or poorly argued? How? Why?
• If you assume that the argument is true, why is it significant?
• How does the information and evidence stand up to your own expereinces and observations?
• What further questions does this information raise that might be worth investigating? Explain why these questions are important to you. 
4. Locate another credible source that either agrees with (confirms) or disagrees with (contradicts) an idea you found in the first source. Explain how you see this source agreeing or disagreeing with your first source and why you think the agreement or disagreement is important or significant.

Conversing with your sources is a vital skill in the research process because ultimately it's what will help you develop your own ideas and keep your voice primary, commanding, and central in your final report. 

As you continue to research, you may find a method of conversing called the double-entry journal helpful. Check out this link, which teaches you how to implement this strategy (even though this example is geared toward literary analysis, you should be able to apply the same principles to your own technical research).

Phase Four - Assessing Credibility

Do you remember the CRAAP Analysis (click the link for the handout) we discussed in class before Spring Break? This blog phase asks you to use that tool to compare the credibility of two different research sources.

Here are some detailed instructions for completing this phase:

1. Find two different types of research sources related to your topic. For example, one source could be an academic journal article found through the library's website and the other one could be a popular web-based article found through an internet search (don't forget about the 119 web sources beyond Google!). Or one source could be a popular magazine article and the other could be a media clip discussing your topic. Do not try to analyze entire books or extremely lengthy articles (say, more than ten pages).
2. Using the CRAAP tool, separately analyze the credibility of the two sources and write a paragraph or two for each source that summarizes your findings. Remember, the CRAAP test involves analyzing five different categories and each category has 3-5 questions that you need to answer. Some of the questions may require you to do additional internet research on the author, publication, etc. To earn full credit for this phase you need to be thorough.
3. End your post with a paragraph comparing the credibility of the two sources (remember the chart we wrote on the board in class?). Based on your analysis, which source seems more credible? Why? Remember, credibility is not an either/or issue (either it is credible or it isn't credible) but rather a continuum where the information may have stronger credibility in some areas and less in others. For this question, you want an overall comparison.
4. Finally, respond to the comment left on your blog by one of your classmates.

If you'd like to read an example CRAAP analysis that I wrote for another class, check it out here.

You must post Phase Four by Friday, March 22nd at 11:59 p.m. to earn credit.