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BIOL 4620 - Undergraduate Seminar: Reading and Evaluating Sources

Provides review and guidance for students in Biology Seminar.

Approaching a Scholarly Article:

This video from Western University gives a beautiful break down on reading the different parts of a scholarly article. 

Parts of a Scholarly Article

Abstract

  • Just a summary of the article
  • Use the Abstract to quickly get an idea of what will be covered in the article

Thesis Statement/Introduction

  • Describes the problem the author is trying to solve
  • The thesis statement (or exact question being answered) will be in the Introduction
  • The Introduction will give a brief break down of the question, and what the author hopes to find.

Materials/Methods

  • Explanation of how the study was conducted and what was involved
  • Methods section will answer "what did the author do?"  & "who/what was it done to?"

Results

  • explains the outcome of the study
  • this section will answer "what happened?" or "what did the author find?"

Discussion/Conclusion

  • author compares findings to previous research, talks about any limitations, and suggests related areas to be studied
  • This section will interpret the results, suggest what comes next, and any reason the author feels the methods did not yield expected results.

References

  • contains all the articles, other works, the author cited in their article
  • Reference sections are a GREAT place to look for additional articles for your own papers!

Reading Scientific Literature

CRAAP Test: For Evaluating Web Resources

Using CRAAP to Evaluate Sources

The CRAAP Test is an easy way to evaluate sources. CRAAP is an easy to remember acronym that walks you through a set of questions to help you evaluate each source. 

C - Currency:  is the material current?

R - Relevant:  is the material relevant to my topic?

A - Authority: Who wrote/created this source?

A - Accuracy: Where does this information come from?

P - Purpose:  What is the purpose of this information (inform, pursuade, etc)?

  Below is a video from McMaster Libraries on using the CRAAP Test, and also a video from Portland State Unversity. They are using a slightly different version of CRAP, BUT I LOVE how they show using the test with actual websites! Below the two videos is a copy of the CRAAP Rubric provided by Lamar State College. The rubric walks you through the CRAAP questions and provides a scoring system to help evaluate sources. Remember - BE BRUTAL in your evaluation! You want to choose sources that will enhance your research! 

 

 

Subjects: Biology