CRR Week 5: Evaluating Source Materials

500 WORDS

A unique title needed

Description: 

Now that you’ve selected your final research topics that you will build upon for the last 4 weeks of this course, we are going to take a deep dive into research and source evaluation. To this point, you’ve had experience evaluating other author’s arguments, sources, logic, and claim types and now it’s your turn to try your hand at crafting a multidimensional and hybrid argument of your own.

The choices we make surrounding what kinds of source material help us form our arguments are rhetorical choices. Selecting high quality source material and practicing ethical and sound research is not only important in the context of academia but can tremendously increase your writerly ethos when done well. Using research strategies and techniques outlined by our authors alongside practicing important source annotation techniques will be the first and most vital step in crafting your final hybrid argument and extended research pa.PER.

Module Objectives: 

1. Integrate outside perspectives into texts
2. Distinguish high quality source materials 
3. Practice accurate citation style and MLA formatting conventions

Readings/Videos:

• Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing 2e, Issue 6 “More Than Detective Work”  p. 220-253
• Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings 11e 
  • Chapter 4 “Using Evidence Effectively” p. 52-66
  • Chapter 16 “Finding and Evaluating Sources” p. 341-359
  • Chapter 17 “Incorporating Sources into your Own Argument” p. 360-374
  • Chapter 18 “Citing and Documenting Sources” p. 375-396 
• Video: Annotation 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o5JUuHj8Vw

Instructions: You will need to post initial responses and peer responses in a timely manner, responding to instructor discussion threads/prompts or posting uniquely generated content.

Initial Post:

Instructor Prompt #1:

Reflecting upon your research style, what was surprising as you read Issue 6 “More than Detective Work” from Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing 2e? As we think about forming claim types, how might this affect the kind of research we conduct? What does “thinking rhetorically” about sources mean to you

Instructor Prompt #2:

Chapter 16 “Finding and Evaluating Sources“ suggests that source evaluation goes hand in hand with cultivating stronger rhetorical awareness. When we consider online source material, reliability, credibility, angle of vision, and political stance is increasingly important as information and media are produced and available rapidly to millions of consumers. I want you to select one online source you frequently consume information from and link the online source in your discussion post. Using table 16.4 “Criteria for Evaluating Websites” vet your online source keeping in mind the rhetorical indent of the online source.After you complete this evaluation, consider how the idea of evaluating online source materials intersect the ideas of 24-hour news media and the concept of “fake news.”