Evaluating Information & Academic Research

   As I walked into FYE class on Monday, my fellow peer, Emma Williams, was reading aloud an anonymous report from a student living in the Honors LLC who had an incorrect class registration date.  Honors students at Georgia Southern University have first priority when registering for classes. Their date is set earlier than the normal student body. However, this particular student had a later date than the rest of the honors students due to a miscommunication with their advisor.  This sparked conversation amongst my peers, as the stress of class registration filled the FYE classroom. Personally, I had no issues with registration and I got all the classes I needed. The only downside was waking up at 5:40 in the morning! 

   This week's topic was evaluating information and research methods such as how to write a research paper using evidence that accurately supports a topic.  For homework due in Wednesday's class, we were assigned to research articles that answered a powerful question we deciphered. My question I made was, “What are the consequences of marine life ingesting plastic into their gastrointestinal tract?”  This question is powerful because it is broad enough to provoke elaborate conversation. Obviously, death is a large consequence, however, I found out through my articles that there can be body deformations and organ dysfunction as well. The two articles I chose were both related to marine biology.  My scholarly article was from a University's marine institute which had research and data on my topic. The sources were reliable because they were from credible professors. My second article was simply a website that stated marine facts. I cannot quite tell how reliable the authors of it were. 

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  In Wednesdays class, our peer assistant, Taylor, led the class.  We began by passing out a worksheet called the CRAAP test. Yep, you heard it right.   It stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. Currency is how up-to-date a source is.  Relevancy is how important the source is to be used as evidence. Authority and accuracy determine how credible sources are.  Finally, purpose is simply the overall meaning of the article’s source like how it supports a topic. The CRAAP test is used when reviewing sources to determine their legitimacy.  We then used this test to dissect our articles part by part. According to the CRAAP test, my first scholarly article was more legitimate than my second article which just came from a website that anyone could have uploaded.

   It's very important to learn how to write research papers and how to incorporate accurate sources to support your topic.  I know other FYE classes have to write research papers, and I'm beyond thankful that our particular class does not have to.  I am already busy enough with biological research papers, but I cannot disregard how helpful this week has been with learning how to use and find sources.