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Source Evaluation

In Unit One, we explored the issue of education as a class. In Unit Two, you'll be working in smaller groups, exploring an issue of your own choice. For this first essay, you'll again be developing a "group text" of possible sources, but this time, instead of just summarizing the sources you'll be evaluating them to determine which are appropriate to an academic paper, which are not, and why.

The question you'll answer is "Is this article an appropriate source for an academic paper in which you will agree or disagree with a particular author's views? Why or why not?"

You're answering it for your group members, who are working with you to find a pool of sources that might be useful in the final essay for this class. They'll be counting on you for an accurate "report" about your source.

Your goals: Think of this assignment as preparation for the longer essay you'll be asked to write next. As a group, you'll want to complete the most effective research you can, so that when you sit down to write your essay you'll have plenty of useful sources on which to draw. Individually, then, your goal is to "do your part" for the group by finding an interesting possible source and offering a detailed analysis of that source for your group to use.

Strategies: