Speaker 1: Howdy, and welcome to the Do Good Letters. I have been researching some information about almanacs because I want to do a video on the history of almanacs because I love almanacs. When I say almanacs anymore, I don't know, almanacs, almanacs, almanacs, almanacs. So in doing my research, I was wondering how to find a credible source. What criteria is there for being a credible source? Are there any online sources that are credible? So in doing this, I found this website called libguides.ccac.edu. That explains the difference in scholarly versus unscholarly. It also describes peer-reviewed articles, books, it gives some resources. So I thought I may not be the only one who wondered how to make sure the sources that we're using are credible and accurate, so I made a video because I'm a narcissist. All right, so according to the CCAC library, and I'll put a link about the video below, it asks, what is a scholarly article and what is a scholarly source? Talks about using the term scholarly article, it refers to a research article that is published in a recognized scholarly source, like a journal or a university published book, or similar publisher. I don't know what the similar publisher is, but I'll find out some more. The key for an article or content from a scholarly source is to identify, and that was the key in looking for, see I didn't even have the key for the sentence to unlock the correct words, but here I go, I got it now. The key in looking for an article or content from a scholarly source is to identify the standards or criteria used to ensure that the article is of a high standard. Sometimes we just trust the reputation of a journal or publisher, and sometimes we actually look for a statement above the review, or about the review process, so it's good to investigate how they determine to do their research. If they're just doing their research off of Facebook, then perhaps that isn't a credible source. So, they further explain, they kind of give an example, magazines in general do not have a review process, and their material is meant for a wider audience. It may be valuable, but it's not scholarly. It doesn't have this little thinking cap on. How do you tell the difference between a scholarly source and other sources? Look with your special eyes. Well, according to the University of Central Florida, they have a chart that provides differences between scholarly journals and popular magazines. And when you click on the link for this article, how do we know if this article is a credible source? You know? Like, do we then go down the road of credible sources, back check and make sure those sources are credible, and those sources that check those sources are credible or credible? How do we even know if we're lying? All right, but when you look at this link, this very credible source, I'm sure of it, they have a, like they said, like they explained, a chart that breaks down scholarly journals on one side and popular magazines on the other, and they explain or they list the differences or similarities in the two. Like scholarly journals are lengthy and detailed articles. Magazines are brief articles. Scholarly articles reference and resources are listed. Magazines are seldom listed resources. Let's see. In scholarly journals, if you like, an article is written by an expert, always signed, and the author's name is listed in a scholarly journal. And in popular magazines, it's written by staff or a freelance writer and frequently unsigned. Author's name is not listed. I don't know that I agree with that, though. I find that people's names are often listed in magazines for photography and writing words. I could be wrong, just I'm not credible, right? I'm incredible. So the scholarly ads are, or may be, peer reviewed, and the popular magazines, not peer reviewed. Examples of scholarly journals are the Journal of Applied Psychology, Modern Fiction Studies, and an example of a popular magazine is Reader's Digest or People. Two different streams here. All right, so journal articles. CCAC asks, is this journal published by a scholarly association or society or university or a recognized scholarly publisher? If it is not one of these, then it may not be a scholarly journal. And I need to find out then what is, what are we using for criteria of a scholarly association? What makes one a scholarly association? Or an unscholarly association? I'm sure my neighborhood association is scholarly. I think they know words. Anyhow, most journals will have the word journal in its title, but not always, they say. Refer to the aforementioned chart for the correct pronunciation of words. Evaluation criteria. Next question they ask is, are the articles reviewed in some way? The print journal itself may have a statement in its title page, but sometimes the journal article may make mention of its reviewing policy. That's cool. In a database article, go to the detailed record. If there's no mention of a review process, then click source title journal. Or if available, the publisher URL in the detailed record. And that was URL because my emphasis was on the wrong syllable. And there may be some information there. What are articles like? They ask again. Are they written for an academic audience or for a popular audience? Because apparently being popular is not scholarly. Or being scholarly and academic is not popular. Popular people aren't scholarly academic-ish. So the popularity of my pretending to be a scholarly YouTube channel is going to really help it grow. Good thing I'm stupid. All right. How do they use evidence or support? Are the citations clear and abundant? In general, not every article will necessarily be like this. This is one thing I'm trying to do is really put sources for the information I get. One, I don't want to plagiarize. And two, it gives honor and credit to where I get my information. And three, it gives you guys a way to find more information on your own and go to the place where I'm regurgitating their information to your ears. And then you can regurgitate it to your eyes. All right. So peer-reviewed articles. What are they? Well, they explain it. Peer-reviewed articles are also found in journals. But to go a step further, peer-review is an editorial process in which these articles are reviewed by an editor and other specialists before being accepted for publication. I got a 70% off coupon. So as you see in this image, which you don't because I don't know how to upload videos and share what I'm looking at yet. Maybe one day when I get scholarly, I'll know how to do that. But it does have a little circle. Big circle says scholarly. And within that big circle is a little circle called peer-reviewed. You're welcome. So as you see in this image, the peer-reviewed articles are scholarly. Peer-reviewed. Scholarly. But not all scholarly articles. Reminds me of a time my husband and I were discussing the terms muppets and puppets. And I have coined this phrase. I'm going to trademark it. Don't take it. I will probably do nothing if you do. But I was asking some questions about those terms. Whether or not puppets and muppets, the terms were used interchangeably. And I, as brilliant as I am, explained that although all muppets are puppets, not all puppets are muppets. And I use this in my everyday life to explain and distribute my wisdom throughout the world. So, books. The same thing applies about book publishers. There are some recognized academic publishers that regularly send work to peer reviewers before it is published. Some of these are universities. And others are not associated with universities but are excellent academic publishers. Some of which, which I probably need to write down, are Rootledge. Pretty sure I'm pronouncing that correctly. Springer, Blackwell, and some others. At Ask, which is my main question right now, especially with, you know, viruses and such going around. I'm probably going to utilize internet resources more. So, they go on to Ask Are Internet Sources Scholarly? Well, it says. These can be more challenging. News is looking up. There are a few scholarly journals that publish a web version. And in some cases, they only publish a web version. Here's an example of a web-based journal. Thank you. The Journal of Abraham Lincoln Association. Wouldn't it be funny if it was the Journal of Abraham Lincoln Assassination Association? No, that wouldn't be funny. How about online reference works like Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica? And the Encyclopedia Britannica, I mean, I grew up in the 80s, so we had, no, we didn't. I think a neighbor had the whole set. But, you know, you go to an actual physical thing, open it up, doodly-doo, know what you're looking for. But I didn't know with how the internet's been going these days, is Britannica still credible? Have they gone TMZ style? I don't know. So I researched researchers. So it says, you know, Wikipedia is a community-edited document which anyone can add or change. And Encyclopedia Britannica is and has a real, real editorial staff and high-quality articles. It is, however, uh-oh, it's looking down, a general encyclopedia. I don't want general. And so its purpose is to meet the needs of a general audience, not a specialized audience. Does that matter? I don't know. There are specialized subject encyclopedias in libraries, such as the Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies or the Encyclopedia of the American Military. But are they scholarly? Well, I wish you would tell me. Okay. Some are, some aren't. Thanks. Use that chart up above to verify. Okay. You should be quite suspicious of other works on the web. Just typing something in Google or Bing will not consistently give you reliable sources. So what they suggest is to select more credible domains by typing in .edu.gov or .etc. I'm just kidding. Or other examples like that to confirm that you get a verifiable source. Sometimes academic libraries will make pages of the best resources on the web. And they did a shameless plug to say refer to the CCAC libraries. Their websites include... No. I think that my eyes are getting tired. I'm not making sense of things. So you should use me as a credible source. The websites included in the guides can be useful, but even some of these selected web sources may not be considered scholarly. Many students, which I'm not currently, but I'm a student of life, make the mistake of doing all their work on websites. This is a mistake. Well. CCAC. Let me look down at the bottom. Oh, last updated August 31st of 2020. Did you know that the virus is getting stronger in the year of our Lord 2021? So. I don't want to go touching books that other people have touched. Okay? I'm going to do the best I can. I'm not getting graded. Except by the general public. So it doesn't matter at all. But anyhow. This is one resource that has really helped me. Although it's pretty judgmental. I'll give you that. It's helped me kind of narrow down how to better find a credible source. Because I like knowing the truth. And I like being accurate and knowing accurate information. And I wish to also provide accurate information. And I need to know how to do that. And maybe you need to know how to do that. Maybe everybody needs to know how to do that. I had momentum there, but it died off. I kind of like this video. So I hope you enjoyed this. Found it useful. Found it helpful. Found it entertaining. Found it annoying. And I hope you find me again. Goodbye.