COMPONENT LIST
THESE ARE THE LINKS WHERE I FOUND THOSE COMPONENT,SOME OF THEM ARE ALMOST THE SAME ? PLEASE CHOOSE THE ONE YOU FEEL THE BEST/ USEFUL.THANK YOU
1. http://www.write.com/writing-guides/research-writing/organization/
2. http://www.smu.ca/webfiles/CriticallyAnalyzingInformationSourcesJune2012.pdf
3. http://library.uvm.edu/guides/evaluate/criteria.php
4. http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/evaluation/evaluation20.html
5. http://www.tarleton.edu/departments/library/library_module/unit8/8articles_lm.htm
6. http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
7. http://guides.library.cornell.edu/criticallyanalyzing
8. http://www.lib.vt.edu/instruct/evaluate/

9. http://www.write.com/writing-guides/research-writing/research-process/evaluating-sources-seeking-relevant-useful-and-acurate-information/
10. http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pdf/the-five-features-of-effective-e65.pdf
11. http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/formal-or-informal.html
12. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/608/01/
13. http://writingcommons.org/open-text/genres/public-speaking/the-importance-of-language
14. http://www.cgu.edu/PDFFiles/Writing%20Center/Writing%20Center%20Resources/Remembering%20Your%20Audience.pdf
15. https://www.mq.edu.au/on_campus/library/research/researching_your_assignment/critical_analysis_of_information_sources/

currency / relevance / accuracy / authorithy / purpose / content analysis / audience / writing style / language / elaboration / credibility / reasonableness / support / completeness of scope / coverage& etc
CONTENT ANALYSIS
According to Krippendorff (1980), six questions must be addressed in every content analysis:
1) Which data are analysed?
2) How are they defined?
3) What is the population from which they are drawn?
4) What is the context relative to which the data are analysed?
5) What are the boundaries of the analysis?
6) What is the target of the inferences?

At least three problems can occur when documents are being assembled for content analysis. First, when a substantial number of documents from the population are missing, the content analysis must be abandoned.
? Second, inappropriate records (e.g., ones that do not match the definition of the document required for analysis) should be discarded, but a record should be kept of the reasons.
? Finally, some documents might match the requirements for analysis but just be undoable because they contain missing passages or ambiguous content (GAO, 1996).
1) Having made an initial appraisal, you should now examine the body of the source.
2) Read the preface to determine the author’s intentions for the book.
3) Scan the table of contents and the index to get a broad overview of the material it covers.
4) Note whether bibliographies are included. Read the chapters that specifically address your topic.
5) Reading the article abstract and scanning the table of contents of a journal or magazine issue is also useful.
6) As with books, the presence and quality of a bibliography at the end of the article may reflect the care with which the authors have prepared their work.Read chapters that specifically address a chosen topic.
7) For journal articles, read the abstract, introduction, sub-headings, and conclusion to determine which sections are most relevant to the selected topic.
8) Evaluate sources based on the content by asking the following questions:
• Can you summarize the main idea?
• What are the principal lines of reasoning or kinds of arguments used?
• Does the content address the topic effectively?
• Are the key questions about your topic answered within the content?
• Does the content seem like it is likely to help your research?
• Does the content provide any information that is new or useful?

9) While evaluating the content is important, it is not the only evaluation criteria in deciding to use a source.
10) However, if the content is lacking or does not address your topic, you should not use the source.
AUDIENCE
Evaluate sources based on the intended audience of the author by asking the following questions:
? What audience does the author appear to be addressing?
? Is the intended audience a group of experts or a more general audience?
? Is the content too simple, technical or advanced? Or is it well-suited to your topic and assignment?
? The intended audience can influence your evaluation of a source, but it should not be the sole factor in your decision.

A. REMEMBERING YOUR AUDIENCE

Knowing or anticipating who will be reading what you have written is key to effective writing.
A. Try using the first person point of view: “I,” “me,” “we,” “us”
Example: It has been found experimentally that genetically altered
Strawberries are frost-resistant.
Switch to: In this experiment, we found that genetically altered
Strawberries are frost-resistant.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:
• First person gives a personality to your writing. It creates a sense of self and is oftenthe most natural and relaxed point of view to use.
• It often allows for more lively and more direct expression than using an anonymousthird person voice.
• May not be appropriate for all kinds of writing (newspapers, science writing, etc.);note the conventions of your field.
• It is sometimes possible to create the same effect of using “I” by writing your first draftusing this pronoun, then editing it out for the final draft.

B) Avoid sexist language: language that suggests discrimination on the basis of sex.
Example:Every physician must know about his patient’s lifestyle in order to insure his diagnoses are accurate.
Switch to:In order to insure that diagnoses are accurate, all physicians should know about their patients’ lifestyles.

Sexist language occurs in several different ways.
• Using “he” as a generic pronoun. Ex. A good professor will always let his students know hisgrading policies.
• Using the word “man” or “men” as a term to refer to a general group of people that couldconsists of both men and women. Ex. “All men are created equal.”
• Using masculine pronouns to refer to professions traditionally associated with men, orfeminine pronouns with professions traditionally associated with women. Ex. Today’s babysitter can ask her clients for up to $20 and hour.
• Referring to men by last name only or by title, while referring to women by both first and lastname or by their married name. Ex. President Bush vs. Mrs Thatcher.

How to remedy:
• Use generic pronouns in place of gender specific pronouns. Ex. “everyone” instead of “he”
• Refer to people by profession or role, rather than gender. Ex. All nurses receive training in six basic fields.
• Use the word “person” or “people” instead of “man” or “woman” whenever possible
• If necessary, designate both sexes in your sentence. Ex. his/her or he/she.
• Choose a consistent way to write names, such as using last name only, or title and last name.Use this method for both males and females in your writing.
• Be careful not to stereotype by profession. Ex. Call the nurse to see if he thinks you need anappointment.

C. Consider using an appropriate tone to address your audience.
Example: Mr Smith, your unwillingness to explore the alternative on this issue leads me to believe that you are not fully aware of all the variables concerned. The following is a brief list of factors I don’t think you have considered.
Switch to: Mr Smith, as I am sure you will want to make the most informed choice possible, I have reviewed the various factors in this issue. The following is a copy of this list.
THINGS TO CONSIDER:
• Writing is communication between PEOPLE. Consider how your word choice may affect your reader’s attitude toward you or your subject.
• Be aware that some readers may react negatively to certain buzzwords, such as “traditional family values” or words that reflect a certain ideology, such as “politically correct.” Use these words carefully.
• Most academic writing takes a formal tone towards the topic

WRITING STYLE

The writing style of the author of an original source influences whether the source is appropriate for your topic and assignment. If the style does not fit with what you are trying to accomplish, consider whether you want to keep the source as one to cite or to simply use it to consult.
– Is the publication organised logically?
– Are the main points clearly presented?
– Do you find the text easy to read, or is it stilted or choppy?
– Is the author repetitive?

A) FORMAL AND INFORMAL WRITING STYLES
FORMAL WRITING STYLE
• Complex – Longer sentences are likely to be more prevalent in formal writing. You need to be as thorough as possible with your approach to each topic when you are using a formal style. Each main point needs to be introduced, elaborated and concluded.
• Objective – State main points confidently and offer full support arguments. A formal writing style shows a limited range of emotions and avoids emotive punctuation such as exclamation points, ellipsis, etc., unless they are being cited from another source.
• Full Words – No contractions should be used to simplify words (in other words use “It is” rather than “It’s”). Abbreviations must be spelt out in full when first used, the only exceptions being when the acronym is better known than the full name (BBC, ITV or NATO for example).
• Third Person – Formal writing is not a personal writing style. The formal writer is disconnected from the topic and does not use the first person point of view (I or we) or second person (you).

INFORMAL WRITING STYLE
• Colloquial – Informal writing is similar to a spoken conversation. Informal writing may include slang, figures of speech, broken syntax, asides and so on. Informal writing takes a personal tone as if you were speaking directly to your audience (the reader). You can use the first or third person point of view (I and we), and you are likely to address the reader using second person (you and your).
• Simple – Short sentences are acceptable and sometimes essential to making a point in informal writing. There may be incomplete sentences or ellipsis (…) to make points.
• Contractions and Abbreviations – Words are likely to be simplified using contractions (for example, I’m, doesn’t, couldn’t, it’s) and abbreviations (e.g. TV, photos) whenever possible.
• Empathy and Emotion – The author can show empathy towards the reader regarding the complexity of a thought and help them through that complexity.

B) WRITING SKILL

Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation
• The writing style of the author of an original source influences whether the source is appropriate for your topic and assignment. If the style does not fit with what you are trying to accomplish, consider whether you want to keep the source as one to cite or to simply use it to consult.

Poor Writing, Grammar and Spelling Mistake
• Checking for poor writing and spelling mistakes should be seen as a courtesy to your readers since it can take them much longer to understand the messages in your writing if they have to think and re-read text to decipher these.
• All written communications should therefore be re-read before sending to print, or hitting the send button in the case of emails, as it is likely that there will be errors.
• Even if you know spelling and grammar rules, you should still double-check your work or, even better, have it proof-read by somebody else. Our brains work faster than our fingers can type and accidental typographical errors (typos) inevitably creep in.

LANGUAGE
• Was the language appropriate for the audience?

• Did the speaker articulate clearly?
• Were sentences short and easy to understand?
• Was technical jargon or unnecessarily complex language used?
• What rhetorical devices were used? E.g. repetition, alliteration, the rule of three &etc.

A. Appropriate Language
When writing, it is very important to use language that fits your audience and matches purpose. Inappropriate language uses can damage your credibility, undermine your argument, or alienate your audience. The following is a short overview of the different aspects of using appropriate language. Review the other sections of this hand-out for a more complete discussion.
? Levels of Formality: Writing in a style that your audience expects and that fits your purpose is a key to successful writing.
? In-Group Jargon: Jargon refers to specialized language used by groups of like-minded individuals. Only use in-group jargon when you are writing for members of that group. You should never use jargon for a general audience without first explaining it.
? Slang and idiomatic expressions: Avoid using slang or idiomatic expressions in general academic writing.
? Deceitful language and Euphemisms: Avoid using euphemisms (words that veil the truth, such as “collateral damage” for the unintended destruction of civilians and their property) and other deceitful language.
? Biased language: Avoid using any biased language including language with a racial, ethnic, group, or gender bias or language that is stereotypical.

ELABORATION
Guiding questions for support and elaboration
FOR NARRATIVE WRITING:
• Is your story developed with specific details that are related to the main event?
• Do all of the details move the story along?
• Does your story have enough elaboration so that your reader can see and feel what is happening? Can you show me an example where your reader can see or feel what is happening?

FOR INFORMATIONAL WRITING:
• Is your essay developed with specific information (facts, statistics, etc.) that is related to the main topic?
• Does all of the information support the main topic?
• Does your essay have enough information to fulfil your reader’s needs?

FOR ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING:
• Is your essay developed with specific details that are related to the main topic?
• Does all of the information support the main argument?
• Does your essay have enough supporting evidence to persuade your reader?

MAJOR TYPES OF ESSAYS
Distinguishing between types of essays is simply a matter of determining the writer’s goal. Does the writer want to tell about a personal experience, describe something, explain an issue, or convince the reader to accept a certain viewpoint? The four major types of essays address these purposes:
1. Narrative Essays: Telling a Story
In a narrative essay, the writer tells a story about a real-life experience. While telling a story may sound easy to do, the narrative essay challenges students to think and write about themselves. When writing a narrative essay, writers should try to involve the reader by making the story as vivid as possible. The fact that narrative essays are usually written in the first person helps engage the reader. “I” sentences give readers a feeling of being part of the story. A well-crafted narrative essay will also build towards drawing a conclusion or making a personal statement.

2. Descriptive Essays: Painting a Picture
A cousin of the narrative essay, a descriptive essay paints a picture with words. A writer might describe a person, place, object, or even memory of special significance. However, this type of essay is not description for description’s sake. The descriptive essay strives to communicate a deeper meaning through the description. In a descriptive essay, the writer should show, not tell, through the use of colourful words and sensory details. The best descriptive essays appeal to the reader’s emotions, with a result that is highly evocative.

3. Expository Essays: Just the Facts
The expository essay is an informative piece of writing that presents a balanced analysis of a topic. In an expository essay, the writer explains or defines a topic, using facts, statistics, and examples. Expository writing encompasses a wide range of essay variations, such as the comparison and contrast essay, the cause and effect essay, and the “how to” or process essay. Because expository essays are based on facts and not personal feelings, writers don’t reveal their emotions or write in the first person.
4. Persuasive Essays: Convince Me
While like an expository essay in its presentation of facts, the goal of the persuasive essay is to convince the reader to accept the writer’s point of view or recommendation. The writer must build a case using facts and logic, as well as examples, expert opinion, and sound reasoning. The writer should present all sides of the argument, but must be able to communicate clearly and without equivocation why a certain position is correct.

5. Argumentative Essay

In an argumentative essay the writer is trying to convince the reader by demonstrating the truth or falsity of a topic. The writer’s position will be backed up with certain kinds of evidence, like statistics or opinions of experts.
The writer is not just giving an opinion, but making an argument for or against something and supporting that argument with data.
To know how to write an essay in an argumentative way, you have to research and backup what you say in the text.

CREDIBILITY/ RELIABILITY???/???
Because people have always made important decisions based on information, evidence of authenticity and reliability–or credibility, believability–has always been important. If you read an article saying that the area where you live will experience a major earthquake in the next six months, it is important that you should know whether or not to believe the information. Some questions you might ask would include, What about this source makes it believable (or not)? How does this source know this information? Why should I believe this source over another? As you can see, the key to credibility is the question of trust.
There are several tests you can apply to a source to help you judge how credible and useful it will be:
a) AUTHOR’S CREDENTIALS
• The author or source of the information should show some evidence of being knowledgeable, reliable, and truthful. Here are some clues:
• Author’s education, training, and/or experience in a field relevant to the information. Look for biographical information, the author’s title or position of employment
• Author provides contact information (email or snail mail address, phone number)
• Organizational authorship from a known and respected organization (corporate, governmental, or non-profit)
• Author’s reputation or standing among peers.
• Author’s position (job function, title)
b) EVIDENCE OF QUALITY CONTROL
Most scholarly journal articles pass through a peer review process, whereby several readers must examine and approve content before it is published. Statements issued in the name of an organization have almost always been seen and approved by several people. (But note the difference between, “Allan Thornton, employee of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency, says that a new ice age is near,” and “The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency said today that a new ice age is near.” The employee is speaking for himself, whereas a statement in the name of NOAA represents the official position of NOAA.)
Evidence of quality control of Internet material includes these items:

• Information presented on organizational web sites

• On-line journals that use refereeing (peer review) by editors or others
• Postings of information taken from books or journals that have a quality control process

Note: Appearances can be deceiving. Don’t assume that a great-looking Web site is automatically credible. Very professional and sophisticated Web page templates are available for a few dollars, so that anyone and his pet skunk can put up a site that looks expensive and authoritative. Good looks are not evidence of credibility.

c) META INFORMATION
Meta information is information about information. Information workers (sometimes called knowledge workers) all over the world are constantly poring over, processing, and evaluating information–and making notes. As the challenges produced by the increasing quantity of information continue, access to high quality meta information will become increasingly important. Meta information can take many forms, but there are two basic types, summary and evaluative.
Summary meta information includes all the shortened forms of information, such as abstracts, content summaries, or even tables of contents. This type of meta information gives us a quick glance at what a work is about and allows us to consider many different sources without having to go through them completely.
Evaluative meta information includes all the types that provide some judgment or analysis of content. This type includes recommendations, ratings, reviews, and commentaries. Even the search results order of pages from a search engine like Google represents a type of evaluative meta information, since pages are ranked in part by the number of other pages linked to them (and hence “voting” for them in some sense).
And, of course, these two types can be combined, resulting in the best form of meta information, providing us with a quick overview and some evaluation of the value. An example would be a World Wide Web yellow pages or directory which describes each selected site and provides evaluations of its content.

d) INDICATORS OF LACK OF CREDIBILITY
You can sometimes tell by the tone, style, or competence of the writing whether or not the information is suspect. Here are a few clues:
• Anonymity
• Lack of Quality Control
• Negative Metainformation. If all the reviews are critical, be careful.
• Bad grammar or misspelled words. Most educated people use grammar fairly well and check their work for spelling errors. An occasional split infinitive or comma in the wrong place is not unusual, but more than two or three spelling or grammar errors is cause for caution, at least. Whether the errors come from carelessness or ignorance, neither puts the information or the writer in a favorable light.

• Emotional earnestness accompanied by exaggeration or absolutes. Even in very controversial areas (gun control, global warming, abortion, capital punishment) and promotional contexts (product claims and evaluations) we expect reasons, data, and emotional restraint. Articles where the writer’s feelings have clearly taken over from thinking make us wonder if we are reading ideology instead of information and arguments that might persuade us. Breathless, sweeping generalizations should set off your baloney detector. For example, “Did you know that none of the vitamins and supplements sold in stores work correctly with your body chemistry? Only SuperDuperVite has been formulated to blah blah blah.”

• Claims of unique, secret information (which is now on the Web site) or claims of such dramatic implications that you should expect widespread discussion. For example, “The CIA was responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy.” Conspiracy theories in general, because they run counter to official reports and often counter to reason, should be met with great caution.

REASONABLENESS???
The test of reasonableness involves examining the information for fairness, objectivity, moderateness, and consistency. Fair, balanced, objective, reasoned, no conflict of interest, absence of fallacies or slanted tone. A source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably, concerned with the truth.
a) FAIRNESS
Fairness includes offering a balanced, reasoned argument, not selected or slanted. Even ideas or claims made by the source’s opponents should be presented in an accurate manner.
• Pretending that the opponent has wild, irrational ideas or arguments no one could accept is to commit the straw man fallacy.
• A good information source will also possess a calm, reasoned tone, arguing or presenting material thoughtfully and without attempting to get you emotionally worked up.
• Pay attention to the tone and be cautious of highly emotional writing. Angry, hateful, critical, spiteful tones often betray an irrational and unfair attack underway rather than a reasoned argument. And writing an attempt to inflame your feelings to prevent you from thinking clearly is also unfair and manipulative.
b) OBJECTIVITY???
The test of reasonableness involves examining the information for fairness, objectivity, moderateness, and consistency.Fair, balanced, objective, reasoned, no conflict of interest, absence of fallacies or slanted tone. Goal: a source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably, concerned with the truth.
The nature of your assignment and your topic determine how important it is for your sources to be objective. A lack of objectivity is not an automatic reason to dismiss a source if it fits the assignment and the topic while still allowing you to find other sources with opposing viewpoints.
Almost all information is biased in some way. As a reader (or consumer of information) your job is to identify the point of view or motive of the author and then decide if the information at hand is appropriate for your needs.

• Is the author open about his or her position?
• Is the author trying to sway your opinion or advocate a particular position?
• Is the material presented based upon research or the author’s opinion?
• Is the author (or publication) presenting the information in order to sell you something?
• Does the information show a minimum of bias?
• Is the page a presentation of facts and not designed to sway opinion?
• Frequently the goals of the sponsors/authors aren’t clearly stated.
• The content of the page may be influenced by the advertiser.
• Is the objectivity of the source clear?
• Is there any obvious bias?
• Is the purpose obvious?
• Is the sole purpose of the article to give information, or does it promote or try to sell something?

c) MODERATENESS ??
Moderateness is a test of the information against how the world really is. Use your knowledge and experience to ask if the information is really likely, possible, or probable. Most truths are ordinary. If a claim being made is surprising or hard to believe, use caution and demand more evidence than you might require for a lesser claim. Claims that seem to run against established natural laws also require more evidence.
In other words, do a reality check.
• Is the information believable? Does it make sense? Or do the claims lack face validity? That is, do they seem to conflict with what you already know in your experience, or do they seem too exaggerated to be true? “Half of all Americans have had their cars stolen.”
• Does that pass the face validity test? Have half of your friends had their cars stolen? Is the subject on the news regularly (as we might assume it would be if such a level of theft were the case)?
• It is important, of course, to remember that some truths are spectacular and immoderate. Over the past few decades, Michel Lotito, a French performer with the stage name of Monsieur Mangetout (French for “eats everything”) has actually eaten 18 bicycles, several TV sets, a few shopping carts, and a small airplane by first having them ground into a fine powder and sprinkling a few teaspoonful on his breakfast cereal each morning. So do not automatically reject a claim or source simply because it is astonishing. Just be extra careful about checking it out.

d) CONSISTENCY
The consistency test simply requires that the argument or information does not contradict itself. Sometimes when people spin falsehoods or distort the truth, inconsistencies or even contradictions show up. These are evidence of unreasonableness.

e) WORLD VIEW
• A writer’s view of the world (political, economic, religious–including anti-religious–and philosophical) often influences his or her writing profoundly, from the subjects chosen to the slant, the issues raised, issues ignored, fairness to opponents, kinds of examples, and so forth.
• World view can be an evaluative test because some world views in some people cause quite a distortion in their view of reality or their world view permits them to fabricate evidence or falsify the positions of others.
• For some writers, political ideology or political agenda takes precedence over truth and sometimes even over fairness. If you are looking for truth or a whole picture, such sources are not the best.

f) INDICATORS OF A LACK OF REASONABLENESS
Writers, who put themselves in the way of the argument, either emotionally or because of self-interest, often reveal their lack of reasonableness. If, for example, you find a writer reviewing a book he opposes by asserting that “the entire book is completely worthless claptrap,” you might suspect there is more than a reasoned disagreement at work. Here are some clues to a lack of reasonableness:
• Intemperate tone or language (“stupid jerks,” “shrill cries of my extremist opponents”)
• Over claims (“Thousands of children are murdered every day in the United States.”)
• Sweeping statements of excessive significance (“This is the most important idea ever conceived!”)
• Conflict of Interest (“Welcome to the Old Stogie Tobacco Company Home Page. To read our report, ‘Cigarettes Make You Live Longer,’ click here.” or “The products our competitors make are dangerous and bad for your health.”)
SUPPORT
Listed sources, contact information, available corroboration, claims supported, documentation supplied. Goal: a source that provides convincing evidence for the claims made, a source you can triangulate (find at least two other sources that support it).

a) SOURCE DOCUMENTATION OR BIBLIOGRAPHY
Where did this information come from? What sources did the information creator use? Are the sources listed? Is there a bibliography or other documentation? Does the author provide contact information in case you wish to discuss an issue or request further clarification? What kind of support for the information is given? How does the writer know this? It is especially important for statistics to be documented. Otherwise, someone may be just making up numbers. Note that some information from corporate sites consists of descriptions of products, techniques, technologies, or processes with which the corporation is involved. If you are careful to distinguish between facts (“We mix X and Y together to get Z”) and advertising (“This protocol is the best in the industry”), then such descriptions should be reliable.

b) CORROBORATION
See if other sources support this source. Corroboration or confirm ability is an important test of truth. And even in areas of judgment or opinion, if an argument is sound, there will probably be a number of people who adhere to it or who are in some general agreement with parts of it. Whether you’re looking for a fact (like the lyrics to a song or the date of an event), an opinion (like whether paper or plastic is the more environmentally friendly choice), or some advice (like how to grow bromeliads), it is a good idea to triangulate your findings: that is, find at least three sources that agree. If the sources do not agree, do further research to find out the range of opinion or disagreement before you draw your conclusions.
What you are doing with corroboration, then, is using information to test information. Use one source, fact, point of view, or interpretation to test another. Find other information to support and reconfirm (or to challenge or rebut) information you have found.

Corroboration is especially important when you find dramatic or surprising information (information failing the moderateness test, above). For example, the claim that a commonly used food additive is harmful should be viewed with scepticism until it can be confirmed (or rebutted) by further research. The claim may be true, but it seems unlikely that both government and consumer organizations would let the additive go unchallenged if indeed it were harmful.

c) EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY
While the test of corroboration involves finding out whe