FYS Activity

The three videos listed may be used as pre-class assignments. It is recommended you have a brief discussion about the videos before beginning the in-class activity.

Video #1: Who Do You Trust and Why? (Video = 3 min)

Discussion points:

• Sometimes experts differ on their conclusions about issues; for example, many researchers think diet soda can lead to cancer, and many do not, even after conducting research on the topic. What should scholars and researchers do in a case like this?
  • Takeaway: This is an opportunity to talk about a couple of things. First, we can synthesize research from many places to gain insight into the bigger picture. Second, sometimes the answer to a question is that we don’t have the answer quite yet! We may need to keep doing research.
• Your professors will frequently ask you to use academic sources for your assignments. However, what are some ways that non-academic sources could be used as sources for academic projects?
  • Takeaway: There are many different possibilities. Often non-academic sources like news sources and websites will give voice to people really affected by the problems you are studying, or present narratives that make research necessary in the first place. For example, a Public Health journal article may discuss the impact of lead poisoning from community water; a newspaper article would tell the stories of those affected by the Flint, Michigan water crisis.

Video #2: How is Your Information Created? (Video = 3:48 min)

Discussion point(s):

• How do you tend to react when you encounter inaccurate information online that has been shared as a fact? What can you do to avoid being the person who shares it?
  • Takeaway: Simple things like fact checking websites (i.e Snopes.com) can go a long way. However, so can educating yourself about a topic well enough that you can distinguish good information. It is worth noting that the real reason people share inaccurate information is usually because they *wish* it was true, but wishing things were true is not how we do research.

Video #3: Search Smarter (Video = 3:41 min)

Discussion point(s):

• Why is it important to break down your topic into subcategories before you search for it?
  • Takeaway: Topics like “global warming” are too big to write a paper on -- one reason is because you will end up with too many sources that do not get at the heart of what *you* want to write about. The more narrow your idea and the words you choose, the closer the things you will find will be to your topic.
• Why is it important to look in more than one place (Google vs. the library, for instance) for information?
  • Takeaway: These different tools contain entirely different things for entirely different purposes. For academic perspectives, you can use the library.

In-Class Activity: Evaluating Information to Include in Your Research

Throughout your college career and in your daily life, you will need to find, evaluate, and synthesize information to make decisions and inform your thinking about a certain topic.  Your professors will often ask you to use scholarly, academic sources like peer-reviewed journal articles in your research; but, non-academic sources can also be valuable in your research. It is important to consider what type of source you are using (book, blog post, newspaper article, scholarly journal), and how the format of that source informs its credibility, relevance, and authority. A blog post can offer a critical, popular perspective on a topic that you may not discover from an academic journal. However, an academic journal article will provide detailed research that has been reviewed by other scholars in the field before publication.

This assignment will help you explore different types of sources and think through how to evaluate sources you may want to use in your paper.

Scenario:

(You will not be writing a research paper - the following is a scenario that sets the stage for your in-class activity.)

Your professor has assigned a research paper requiring you to investigate an important sustainability issue. You have decided to research the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park and its impact on the local ecosystem. You begin to explore the local communities’ relationship with the wolf population, and wonder: Are there health risks associated with living or working near wolves? Do wolves provide an economic boon to local communities? Are there long-term environmental concerns about the reintroduction of wolves?

As you begin to explore information on this topic, you quickly develop a long list of relevant sources, from environmental groups, social justice advocates, industry representatives, interviews with local ranchers, scholarly journal articles, and books, to name a few. The sources you have collected are represented on the LibGuide (https://wittenberg.libguides.com/FYS).

Activity:

Each small group will have ten minutes to look through the sources. Using the questions below to guide your discussion, evaluate each source.  In what way is this source authoritative? How is it relevant to your research question? What are its limitations?  After evaluating each source, choose TWO SOURCES that you would want to use in your research paper.

Present your findings to the class: Provide a brief description of the SOURCES you were given, explain how you evaluated your sources, and why your group selected the TWO SOURCES you would use in your paper.

Guiding Questions for Source Evaluation:

• Who is the author, and what makes the author an authority on the topic?
• Is the source sponsored or published by a reputable organization?
• What point of view does the author represent?
• Is there bias or a slant given to the information provided in the source?
• Does the source provide any new information, or a different perspective?
• How is the source relevant to your research question?
• What audience does the author appear to be addressing?
• When was the source published?

In what format (e.g. blog, scholarly journal article, video, newspaper article) was the source published? What does this format tell you about the purpose of the information?