Research Guides: Governor's School for Agriculture: 2019: Evaluating & Citing Your Sources

Class Activities

Two crucial steps in the research process include:

1) Evaluating the sources you plan on using

2) Citing the sources that you used in your project

We'll use the following links during class to explore and practice:

Reading Scholarly Introductions
Use this worksheet as a tool for deciphering scholarly article introductions

APA Citation Practice
Use this Google Doc in class to create citations for your best sources

APA worksheet
Need help writing APA citations? Download this document for templates of APA citations for a variety of information source types

When evaluating a source to determine if it's credible and one you want to use in your project, consider:

1) Authority (who wrote it, or what is their expertise?)

2) Audience (who was it written for? This might help you determine bias)

3) Coverage (what aspect of your topic does it cover?)

4) Objectivity (what viewpoints are covered?)

5) Accuracy (are there other sources that have similar findings?)

6) Currency (when was it produced, and how does that fit in with your topic?)

Be aware that there are several citation styles in existence, a few are listed at our citations page:

Make sure to use the APA citation style that has been assigned for this project, and if you have questions, be sure to: