Page 216 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade6_Flipbook

aCTIvITy 3.5
continued
6. Suppose you are conducting research on this debatable topic: Is it ethical to keep animals in zoos? Imagine that you have used the following sources. Practice writing the basic bibliographic information for each.
Source
Bibliographic Information
You read a book on animal treatment in zoos called
Animal Attractions: Nature on Display in American Zoos,
by Elizabeth Hanson. It was published in 2002 in New York. The publishing company is Princeton University Press.
You used information from a webpage titled National Geographic explore: Classroom Magazine. The webpage’s copyright date is 2001. The organization that hosts the site is National Geographic. The title of the article is “A Bear of a Job.” You visited the site on January 20, 2013.
You conducted a phone interview with a zookeeper named Nancy Hawkes from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, on February 7, 2013.
Credibility
Any source you use must be credible. Evaluating a source’s credibility will help you determine if you should use the information as part of your evidence when you communicate your findings. You can ask the following questions to determine if a source is credible:
• Who is the author? Credible sources are written by authors respected in their fields of study. Responsible, credible authors will cite their sources so that you can check the accuracy of and support for what they have written. (This is also a good way to find more sources for your own research.)
• How recent is the source? The choice to seek recent sources depends on
your topic. While sources on the American Civil War may be decades old
and still contain accurate information, sources on information technologies or other areas that are experiencing rapid changes need to be much more current.
• What is the author’s purpose? Is the author presenting a neutral, objective view of a topic? Or is the author advocating one specific view of a topic? Who is funding the research or writing of this source? A source written from a particular point of view may be credible; however, you need to be careful that your sources don’t limit your coverage of a topic to one side of a debate.
my Notes
aCademIC voCabUlary
To be credible is to be
reliable, believable, and
trustworthy. Evidence must
be credible in order to be
convincing. The credibility of
research information and of
the researchers is enhanced
when sources of evidence
are properly evaluated
and cited.
Unit 3 • Changing Perspectives 189
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