Fill in the gaps with words in the box. Pay attention that one phrase is extra.

Peer-reviewed, acknowledge, customary navigation aid, validity, academic audiences, scholarly, full text articles, worthy, evaluate, be overwhelmed with, books of edited readings.

1. _____________ writers are held to a higher standard of rigor than casual writers and even some branches of journalism

2. Citing information from an unreliable source makes _________________ wary of your entire argument because it is based on information held to a lower level of integrity.

3. Almost all __________________ journals require a subscription fee. However, if you have an active .edu email account from a university where you either attend or work, you can make use of the library’s subscriptions to databases to access these journals.

4. Being able to ____________the credibility of information is an important skill used in school, work, and day-to-day life.

5. The reader can examine those sources in order to decide for themselves the ____________ of the conclusions presented.

6. Nowadays one of the problem connected with evaluation sources is the fact that you can_________ too much information or too little.

7. __________are considered non-textbook academic source.

8. Unfortunately not all sources are appropriate for a scientific project; just because someone has written something down doesn't mean it is _______of discussion.

9. Failure to ______the source of ideas and passing them off as your own is 'plagiarism'.

10. The Internet provides access to thousands of journal (periodical) titles with __________

Reading

Task 1.

Read the text and give its main ideas in 5 sentences.

Evaluating Sources

The world is full of information to be found; however, not all of it is valid, useful, or accurate. Evaluating sources of information that you are considering using in your writing is an important step in any research activity. The quantity of information available is so bulk that we cannot know everything about a subject. And there's the problem of trying to decide which studies have produced reliable results.

Evaluating sources is an important skill. It's been called an art as well as work – much of which is detective work. You have to decide where to look, what clues to search for, and what to accept. You may be overwhelmed with too much information or too little. The temptation is to accept whatever you find. No matter what you're working on, keep in mind that not all sources are appropriate for your project; just because someone has written something down doesn't mean it is worthy of discussion. Before you decide to rely on a source, you should evaluate the source and decide whether it is appropriate to use in your paper. You should always determine the qualifications of the author, the purpose of the source, the scope of the source (what it covers and in what depth), and, where relevant, the currency of the source.

The library provides access to thousands of journal (periodical) titles, both print and electronic. Electronic databases of full text articles come via publishers who aggregate the contents of thousands of journals. Effectively, journal issues are dismembered, digitized and reassembled. This makes for easier searching and identification of relevant material across a span of years. But the absence of the customary navigation aids e.g. tables of contents, layout, fonts, general look, feel, smell, etc. can make it difficult to judge the 'worthiness' of individual articles.

Academic writing is not confined to journals. Non-textbook academic sources such as monographs and books of edited readings may contribute to the development of your ideas. And some research literature is openly available on the internet. Applying evaluation measures will enable you to recognize acceptable sources.

The documentation of the evolution of ideas is a fundamental process in academic research. A bibliography shows the sources used by the writer. The reader can examine those sources in order to decide for themselves the validity of the conclusions presented. Sources that come from scholarly and peer reviewed publications would suggest that the article or conference paper might be a worthy contribution to the body of knowledge in that field.

Failure to acknowledgethe source of ideas and passing them off as your own is 'plagiarism'. Plagiarism is defined as taking, using, and passing off as your own, the ideas or words of another. It is a serious academic offence and can result in your work being failed automatically. The best way to avoid it is to take careful notes of where you found your information, and to always acknowledge the work of others i.e. finish your essays with a bibliography.

Task 2.

Choose the right variant.

1. What is considered the essential activity in any research?

a) Evaluating sources

b) Determination of the author’s qualification.

c) Surfing the Internet

d) Communication with the friends

2. What simplifies searching and identification of any relevant material?

a) Electronic databases

b) Dismembered and reassembled journal issues

c) Absence of the customary navigation aids

d) Full text articles

3. What can we find with the help of a bibliography?

a) Sources used by the author

b) Results of the research

c) Introduction to the research

d) The most important conclusions of the scientific work

4. What are the components of the biggest problem in any research called “plagiarism”?

a) Taking and using the ideas of another author

b) Passing off the thoughts of a scientist as someone’s own

c) Finishing the essay with a bibliography

d) Writing the references

Discussion