Sources
What is narrowing or broadening the inquiry?
This critical step involves deciding whether to focus on specific aspects or expand the scope of your investigation
What is assessing strengths and limitations?
This critical step involves judging a source's reliability based on its relevance to your task and audience.
What is expertise?
This term describes the author's background or qualifications in a subject area.
What is the purpose?
This term refers to the reason a source was created — to inform, entertain, persuade, or sell.
What is stance?
This refers to the speaker’s overall opinion or position on an issue.
What is synthesizing sources?
The ability to combine information from multiple sources to form a cohesive understanding of a topic
What is authoritative?
A characteristic of sources considered trustworthy, such as expertise, accuracy, and reputation.
What is author transparency?
If you can’t find the author’s name or background, the source is likely missing this key element of credibility.
What is bias?
If a source strongly favors one point of view and ignores others, it likely has this.
What is reasoning?
This term describes the connection between a claim and the evidence used to support it.
What is information gathering?
Advanced search techniques and authoritative source evaluation are key components of this research phase
What is evaluating relevance over time?
The process of determining whether a source's publication date affects its usefulness for modern audiences.
What is a subject matter expert?
This kind of author, like a professor or professional in the field, boosts a source’s credibility.
What is a subjective tone?
This kind of tone (e.g., emotional, aggressive, persuasive) can be a clue the source is trying to manipulate you.
What is a logical fallacy?
A flawed or illogical point made by a speaker is called this.
What is synthesizing information?
This process transforms fragmented data into a cohesive argument.
What is paraphrasing?
This method involves restating source material in your own words while preserving original meaning.
True or False: A blog post by a teenager on climate change is just as credible as a scientific journal article.
False
What is balanced or objective?
If a source includes multiple viewpoints and evidence, it’s likely to be this kind of source.
True or False: Emotional appeals can count as strong evidence
False
What is synthesizing multiple sources?
This critical thinking skill ensures your analysis reflects depth rather than surface-level summaries.
What are Boolean operators/phrase searching? (What are advanced search techniques?)
Using "AND," "OR," and quotation marks to refine database results.
What is the bio or author’s credentials section?
When assessing an author, you should look for this section, often found at the bottom of articles, that tells you their qualifications.
What is assessing purpose and bias?
This critical evaluation step involves determining why a source was created and whether its perspective shows unfair influence.
What is rhetoric?
Refers to how a speaker uses language to persuade or influence the audience.