Writing Spaces 3

Finding Sources
While searching for sources, you will be making a lot of decisions. Some 
of them are easy; others are tough. Yet, regardless of what your decisions 
are going to be about—the focus, the argument, the support materials—at 
the core lies your credibility as a writer. In fact, there will be two kinds of 
credibility to juggle—that of your sources and that of your own. If you 
want to come across as a knowledgeable writer, the company you assemble 
(that is, the sources you bring in) will speak volumes about you and your 
understanding of the subject. 
Striking as it might sound, credibility is not an innate quality. Credi-
bility is established. Demonstrate a firm grasp of the matter at hand, and 
your audience will perceive you as a knowledgeable person, worthy of their 
attention. Show that you know who argues against your case, and your au-
dience will take your argument more seriously. “But what if I am not par-
ticularly knowledgeable about the subject matter?” you might ask. “What 
if I am making my first scholastic steps?” Well, there is plenty of good news 
for you: good sources lend you their credibility. 
How do you find good sources, then? Earlier in this chapter, we 
listed seven questions that can help you to determine the credibility of 
your sources:
1. Who is the author? 
2. How do I know that he/she is knowledgeable about the subject?
3. Is the author using emotional appeals/manipulation in his or 
her argument?
4. Does the author use “loaded” language to distract readers from 
relevant reasons and evidence?
5. Is the support for the argument appropriate to the claim?
6. Are all the statements believable?
7. Is the argument consistent and complete?
These questions will help you select the sources that contribute best to 
your credibility as a writer. You may come across an insightful comment 
on your topic in a book, on a flyer, in an email, or a blog. You may hear 
important information in a radio program or on a late-night TV show. No 
media should be banned from your search effort, but you should be very 
picky about making the source yours. Remind yourself that sources are 
people and that you are about to jump into a conversation they have been 
having. To do so effectively, take a critical view of their conversation first. 
In other words, evaluate your sources.

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Assessing Source Credibility for Crafting a Well-Informed Argument
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Evaluating sources and critical reading go hand-in-hand. You read a 
piece critically in order to understand it. You evaluate the same piece in 
order to make an informed decision about “inviting” the writer to have a 
conversation with you on a topic. Simply put, when evaluating, you “read 
with an attitude” (Palmquist 49). The following advice might be useful:
Accept nothing at face value; ask questions about your topic; look for 
similarities and differences in the source you read; examine the im-
plications of what you read for your research project; be on the alert 
for unusual information; and note relevant sources and information. 
Most importantly, be open to ideas and arguments, even if you don’t 
agree with them. Give them a chance to affect how you think about 
the conversation you have decided to join. (Palmquist 53)
Okay, given the variety of sources and the virtual sea of information, 
do you have to read and evaluate all sources in the same way? The short 
answer is, “It depends.” The general rules of critical reading and evaluating 
apply to the majority of sources. However, as more and more information 
is posted on the Web, additional precautions are needed. 
Let’s revisit, for a moment, the library setting. You have probably been 
told that print materials collected by librarians have great advantages. They 
are of a high quality because librarians review and carefully select books 
and journals for the library to buy. Library collections are systematically 
organized and cataloged. In case you are having trouble navigating the 
collection, the library staff can help you find what you are looking for or 
suggest where to look. 
These are all good points. But libraries and print materials do have 
some disadvantages. Collections are limited by the physical space and the 
budget. Libraries cannot buy all the books printed in the world nor can 
they subscribe to all periodicals out there. They specialize in some subjects, 
while collecting very basic materials in other fields. To find a movie that 
came out, say, in the early 1940s, you might need to travel to a place that 
holds a copy of it or use the interlibrary loan system and borrow it for a 
short period of time. 
Don’t online resources have an advantage here? Yes and no. When your 
computer is connected to the Internet, you have a world of information at 
your fingertips. Type in a search term, and hundreds, if not thousands, of 
documents appear on your screen in a split second. News that broke an 
hour ago, game schedules, flight information, stock quotes, currency ex-
change rates, current temperature at your location, a list of courses offered 
at your school next semester, a menu at a nearby restaurant—you can ac-
cess all that without leaving home. 

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In addition to being conveniently accessible, online information comes 
from a variety of sources that sometimes rival those in a library. Videos, 
audio files, and images all reside on the Internet. Say you are writing about 
global warming. In addition to scholarly journal articles, news briefs, en-
vironmental agencies’ reports, statistics, transcripts of Congressional hear-
ings, activists’ blogs and discussion forums, a simple Google search can also 
bring you videos, maps, PowerPoint presentations, and the like. To find all 
those resources in one library would be very difficult, if not impossible. 
The Web, however, has its own disadvantages. One particularly notable 
concern is that because anyone can upload materials online, no one can be 
assured of their quality. No trained staff is out there to assist you in sieving 
through what you have pulled onto your screen. The sheer volume of in-
formation might be overwhelming, making you sometimes feel that there 
exists nothing of value on your particular topic.
There is no shortage of materials—both online and in print—as you 
have found by now. But which ones are good ones? To make that determi-
nation, it’s time to be as picky as possible, scrutinizing the structure of their 
argument (logos), their motives and agendas (ethos), and their fair use of 
emotional appeals (pathos). 
When you are writing a research paper, you will be expected to do pre-
cisely that, and more. You will also need to enter in a conversation with 
your sources and respond to them rather than report what they are saying. 
While your audience will, no doubt, benefit from knowing what experts 
have said, they are reading your paper and are interested in hearing what 
you have to say. Listen to what your sources say (that is, read carefully 
and critically) and try to understand their position. Then, agree or dis-
agree, draw parallels between their views and yours, ask questions and take 
sides. Translated onto a written page, your conversation will take the shape 
of your quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. By doing so, you will 
be contributing to the discussion with your own observations, questions, 
comments, and concerns.