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EN1300 Composition II Library Guide

Resources for choosing a topic, finding articles, creating an annotated bibliography, and writing your argumentative essay

Week 2: Researching Multiple Viewpoints

magazinesAlso known as "Scholarly Articles," "Peer-Reviewed Articles," or "Academic Articles," these are:

  • Written and reviewed by scholars and provide new research, analysis, or information about a specific topic.
    • "Review" means the article is approved by other experts before publication
  • Usually focused on a narrow subject or a single case study

  • Intended for an academic audience

OneSearch

OneSearch is an all-encompassing search engine for locating articles in journals and ebooks.

Advanced Search

Other Databases 

These databases contain journal articles, legal, business, and news resources, and other materials not found through OneSearch.

Avoid using Editorials or Letters to the Editor from print or online newspapers. These articles are "opinion pieces" and the authors may lack subject expertise.

Image by Luis Estrada from Pixabay

Use these reliable fact-checking and bias-checking websites for news articles and websites:

  • FactCheck.org (politics)

  • Snopes (urban legends, hoaxes, folklore, memes, and rumors)   

  • Climate Feedback (climate change)

  • MediaBias/Fact Check (analyzes news and other website bias and contains a list of questionable sources).                                                                                         

Use the questions on the Questions to Ask When Determining Credibility of Sources handout to help you determine the credibility of websites. Check the information by comparing several websites on the same topic. Take a few facts from one article and confirm or disprove them with another credible source (Stebbins, 2015, pp. 22-23). Use the fact-checking websites on the News tab.

Useful tip: Government and military websites, whose URLs end in .gov, .mil, .state.us, or .state.gov, are credible sources of information. For more tips about using information from websites, watch the short NAU video below.

Stebbins, L.F. (2015). Finding Reliable Information Online. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Credible Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other social media posts of "first-hand" accounts of current happenings, such as political rallies, strikes, protest, and entertainment events may be used as primary sources. These sources are analyzed by you, the writer (Coleman, 2013, p.60). Social media should not be used as expert analyses or interpretations to support your argument.  

Sources:

Auraria Library (n.d.). Social media as a primary source. https://guides.auraria.edu/
       c.php?g=323480&p=2863867

Coleman, V. (2013, November/December). Social media as a primary source: A coming of age.
       Educause Review, 48(6), 60-61. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2013/12/
       social-media-as-a-primary-source-a-coming-of-age

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