Issue No. 1
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April 1, 2017
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Credible Sources |
Website to Watch |
"Ms., I'll just use Wikipedia," she responded when I asked her which source she was using for her research assignment. I blanched. "No, sweetie, you can't use Wikipedia," I replied, and then launched into my "Wikipedia is an unreliable source for information" speech. She had no idea! Students need to learn to use credible, scholarly sources for their research; it's important to use legitimate information that has been carefully researched and not someone's opinion. Just because something has been published on a website (or in a book!) does not make it true, and our students need to understand this so that they are college and career ready. Pathfinders--carefully selected links to vetted, credible sources--are one way to save time and help expose students to the types of materials we want them to use for research: primary documents, academic journals, materials published by credible sources, etc.
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Fake news is an issue, there's no doubt about it--especially nowadays. But how do you evaluate information? The librarians at Austin Community College figured that people would have this issue, and so created the CRAAP test. CRAAP is an acronym which stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. You can judge if that text is CRAAP if you click here! If you need a handout for your students, here is one about credible versus non credible sources created by Appalachian State University Writing Center. Finally, your students can use our very own Skipping to the Good Part's Virtual Reference Desk for credible, scholarly sources. If you would like to co-create a pathfinder with Ms. Kantor for your next research assignment, she would be more than happy to help!
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