Reading for Week of 4/15

Resources to help you with your project:

Citing Images

Thesis Statements and Types of Claims
Organizing Your Argument

Review: Argument vs. Opinion

Link to Final Project Assignment and Grading Rubric


 

Reading for 4/1

1. Information About Annotated Bibliographies (Also read the "Example" and "Samples" on the left sidebar)

2. MLA Style Guide (Focus on In-Text Citations and the Works Cited Page)

3. APA Style Guide (Focus on In-Text Citations and the Works Cited Page)

Finding Statistics and Government Information

Statistical Universe (Library database found in GALILEO) - Statistics produced by the U.S. government, major international intergovernmental organizations, professional and trade organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, state government agencies, and universities.

http://factfinder2.census.gov/ - A search system for browsing US Census data (as well as economic census, population data and other surveys). 

http://www.fedstats.gov/ - Statistics from over 100 US Government agencies that can be accessed by topic or subject. 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ - The US Government Printing Office provides free online access to official publications from all three branches of the US government. 

http://bls.gov/ - The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces statistics relating to labor market activity, working conditions, and much more. 

http://www.usa.gov/ - Official web portal to the US Government. Can be used, among other things, to find government agencies relating to your topic that might produce statistics or other types of information.

Information Overload, 3/6

Reading for 3/11

Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The Atlantic. July/August 2008.


Filter Bubbles (In-Class 3/11, 3/13)



Main Talking Points:

• Information vs. Affirmation = "Who wants to hear the truth when they can hear they are right?" (Confirmation Bias)
• Information diet? Become an information omnivore. Seek out alternative viewpoints, immerse yourself in diverse news sources, to avoid "traveling the same mental routes every day."
• Recognize that "clicks have consequences."
• Filter bubble phenomenon - black-or-white fallacy?

Reading: Week of 2/25

1. Some examples of logical fallacies from the 2012 Presidential Race. Please read and watch the short videos demonstrating them:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/08/25/159990177/a-guide-to-spotting-pretzel-logic-on-the-campaign-trail

2. Confirmation bias, the powerful psychological force that makes it difficult to consider other viewpoints:

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/23/confirmation-bias/

Reading for W 2/6

As you finish up your Topic Selection Worksheets (which are due Wednesday 2/6 at 10am), please read carefully this presentation on Creating Research Questions. It's a good summary of the concepts we covered in class about the research process and should be helpful.

Creating Research Questions (Prezi)

Reading for Week 5

Please read the following materials: 

Finding Scholarly Sources & Primary vs. Secondary

Scholarly vs. Popular Materials (Chart)

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article (Interactive)

Reading for W 1/23

1.) Please read the article titled "Understanding How We Search and Why That Matters," located in CourseDen under Content > Course Materials.

This adds some new layers to our discussion on evaluating websites, including the factors that Google takes into account when ranking webpages and even some Google search tips.

2.) Also please this short linked article "Teaching Zach to Think." How does this story demonstrate some of the CRAAP test criteria, especially the potential dangers of over-relying on a particular factor instead of considering all of them?
http://novemberlearning.com/resources/articles/teaching-zach-to-think/

Reading for Monday, 1/14

1. Watch the following talk by Howard Rhinegold about determining site credibility and "crap detection." For Monday's class, start thinking about the criteria you personally use to decide which websites to trust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8vL_FE7eQ (Just watch from the beginning to the 5:25 mark)

2. Read this short definition of information literacy ("Information Literacy Defined") http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency#ildef. Do you agree that in this day and age the concept of "literacy" means more than just knowing how to read and write?