Critical Thinking & Academic Research

Purpose

Questions to Ask

Where should you look to determine the purpose of a source?

Print Sources & Online Sources

• What is the purpose of the information that is provided? Is it to inform, sell, persuade, or entertain?
• What is the author’s language? Is it formal and technical or joking and emotional?
• Is the information provided in the source objective or subjective?
• Is the source associated with an organization or institution that is known as sided?

What to avoid

• Sources that are primarily opinion-based, without facts or statistics 
• Sources that are primarily concerned with selling and are full of advertisements

Exercise:

Purpose gives a reason for the information to exist in the first place, and knowing why the information was created is a key to evaluation. Please have a look at the resources below and explain the purpose of the information. 

1- (Newspaper article) Abeku, T. (2021, Jan 26). Women farmers seek security from FG. The Guardian Retrieved from https://ecsu1891.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/women-farmers-seek-security-fg/docview/2480560856/se-2?accountid=10717

2- (Scholarly Journal Article) LANG, T., & BARLING, D. (2012). Food security and food sustainability: Reformulating the debate. The Geographical Journal, 178(4), 313-326. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2012.00480.x

3- (Reliable Web Sites) Selected government Sites. https://www.state.gov/selected-u-s-government-information-web-sites/

4- (Movie Review Site) Ford v Ferrari (2019). Movie. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1950186/

5- American Society for Nutrition. https://nutrition.org/

6- Wildlife Guide. https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide