Library day - Honors 201 - Finding Credible Sources
In Honors 201, we spent a day in the library with an expert on how to research and evaluate sources, or in general, how to find a credible source. He gave us some examples of databases that MSU offers through the library services and sent us off on a quest to rate the credibility of a handful of articles from open-source Journals. This was definitely a challenging task that really made my partner and I dig into how evaluating a source can prove you, as the writer, to be more or less credible. We had to research the authors and their credibility, and check dates to see if the information was still relevant, and look for a couple of other significant items when evaluating different sources, like those laid out in the acronym "C.A.B.L.E.S," which stands for Currency, Authority, Bias, Level, End-Goal, and Support. I linked the "C.A.B.L.E.S" guidance rubric below as an artifact.
I believe that this exercise helped me meet 'information literacy' levels 1 and 2 because I learned how to effectively, and efficiently access the information I was looking for. I was then able to evaluate those sources to prove their credibility to in turn be able to later use the information ethically. I learned how to properly access data bases, make appropriate searches, and narrow down my search results to scholarly academic journals. I was also able to demonstrate my knowledge of the ethical use of information by going through an exercise in this class period where I discovered and rated the credibility of authors and information with my classmates. I learned that in order to ethically use information, I needed to first make sure the material was credible, and then give it due credit in the forms of citations and references.
Now that I learned the basis to finding and using scholarly information ethically, I can move into future research projects and report writing with the confidence to synthesize information ethically and efficiently.