SCARAB

No depth or written for children. 1 2 3   Substance No depth or written for children. Lacking the depth needed for your purpose. Written for the general public. Depth of coverage needed for your purpose and written at a college or professional level. Very superficial, very brief, and most likely very vague. It won’t have any details you can use in your paper.

No depth or written for children. 1 2 3   Substance No depth or written for children. Lacking the depth needed for your purpose. Written for the general public. Depth of coverage needed for your purpose and written at a college or professional level. The general public is us. It’s written in a way that the average person (someone with little prior knowledge) can understand. The info here might be superficial and simplified

No depth or written for children. 1 2 3   Substance No depth or written for children. Lacking the depth needed for your purpose. Written for the general public. Depth of coverage needed for your purpose and written at a college or professional level. The language might be more specialized for people who are familiar with the topic and or are in area of expertise for this topic.

1 2 3 Currency   There is no publication date or copyright date. The source is more than 5 years old. The source is 3 to 5 years old. The source is less than 3 years old and is a current source of its type on the topic. You want an article with a publication date, copyright date, or last update. This should appear near the beginning or the end of the text. The more current the better!

Library databases are more credible than stuff found on the web. 1 2 3   Authority There is no author listed. The author is listed but is not an expert on my topic. The author is a journalist. (You may need to Google the author to find this out) The author is listed and is an expert on my topic. The author is a scientist/credible professor/researcher/ consultant. (You may need to Google the author to find this out) consultant. Plus, the source is an expert on my topic. Look for the author’s name and information about the author from which you can judge the author’s expertise on the subject. An expert is usually more credible than a journalist reporting on the topic. Also involves check out the publisher or organization that made the source available. Websites often have an “about us” section on the web site that gives information about it or you can shorten the web address to just after the .com, .org, etc. to get to the home page. Library databases are more credible than stuff found on the web.

The source is unrelated to the research topic. 1 2 3 Relevance   The source is unrelated to the research topic. The source is related to the topic, but the information is not very useful. The information is somewhat useful, possibly as overview or background. The information is very useful and very specific. The information from this source SHOULD and MUST answer your subtopics! It should answer your subtopics in many interesting ways—not just one small portion. For example, abortion is the topic, talking about the different types of abortions or statistics among different racial groups are both random and irrelevant to my four topics of background, current status of laws, and opposing viewpoints.

1 2 3   Accuracy Content seems “off-the wall” or the source contains poor grammar or numerous spelling errors or no sources mentioned. The article mentions where it got information within the article, but there is no bibliography attached at the end of the article. The article has a bibliography at the end listing all the different sources used by the article. OR, the article has footnotes at the bottom of each page listing the sources. The article has a bibliography at the end listing all sources used by the article OR footnotes. Plus, the article is in an academic source instead of a newspaper or magazine. A good source will mention where the information for the article comes from. You may find this information at the very end of the article (like databases), or it may be embedded in the article (like newspaper articles). Websites typically don’t reference where they got their information, so you need to be SUPER CAREFUL about the website you choose to use. It may score low in this area. An academic source will be centered around a certain topic. Ex: Education, Science, Medicine, etc. A newspaper or magazine would be like the Star Tribune, Time Magazine, New York Times. When in doubt-ask!!

1 2 3   Bias The source is entirely opinion-based and unfair. It doesn’t really have many facts, just opinions. The source supports one side or the other. It has facts, but doesn’t really say where it got its facts. The source supports one side or the other, but it says where it got its facts and it seems fair. The source doesn’t pick a side. It examines both sides of the issue fairly, and/or is mostly fact-based instead of opinion-based. Opinion based means the author is appealing to your emotions (pathos) and making arguments based on feelings versus statistics and facts. Fact based means the author is appealing to your logic by using statistics, sound research (which can be verified by several sources), and unbiased (fair) data. When you look for bias, consider the purpose of why it was written and the agenda of the author or publisher. Websites typically have an agenda and will probably score low in this category. Data base articles should score higher. 

Total Score:   ______ 0 to 6 points BAD! Highly questionable source. 7 to 10 points MEH. Useful for personal purposes, but not appropriate for college-level research. 11 to 14 points OKAY. Maybe a good source for academic research, but try to find something better. Don’t rely on this one too much. 15 to 18 points GREAT! This source is balanced, well-researched and reliable. This kind of source is best for an academic paper. Your article MUST score an 11 or higher. If all your articles score 11, they probably aren’t all that great. You want some that score 15 or higher.

Practice Time! Now it’s time to practice the rubric. Take a few minutes to read Article #1. It is one page long. Here is where I got it from: The website Let’s fill out the rubric together. Practice Time!

Now, take a few minutes to read Article #2. It is 3 pages long. Here is where I got it from: EBSCO: I searched “Artificial Intelligence Robot” My search results The specific article Practice Time!