Kayla Fraley

BOOK SOURCES
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. U.S. G.P.O. (2010) (enacted). Print.
1. Relevancy
This is the primary source for my topic. I chose to research the Affordable Care Act and
this is the actual government documentation of the act. This document is strictly a factual
document and presents no bias which makes it a good source for any argument that is to
be made about the Affordable Care Act.
2. Accuracy
Regardless of whether a person agrees or disagrees with this document, it is the piece of
legislature that passed through the federal government. As I stated before, it states the
stipulations and everything that the act entails. It is informational and has no bias,
because it is the primary source for my topic.
3. Currency
This document was published in 2010. The stipulations that it contains are still applicable
to our society today, making it a very relevant source. Government acts and documents
seem to always be undergoing little changes here and there, but this is the base from
which our countrys health care system is currently being built around. If this document
was no longer being used by our countrys health care system, it would likely become a
poor source that would be completely irrelevant to a topic such as mine.
4. Authority
Government officials worked with and developed this act. It went through many hands
and changes before it was finally passed and there were many knowledgeable
government officials that were working on this document. The federal government
published this act.
5. Purpose
The purpose of this act is to inform the citizens of the United States how the health care
system will work. Some individuals may have a more difficult time interpreting the
information if they do not have a strong background in how the health care system works,
but the act is very straightforward. It was created so that we will have a standardized
health care system across the entire country and so that everyone will be accountable in
abiding by it.
6. Rating
I would rate this document a 5. I believe that it is the ultimate primary source for my
topic and that its use is absolutely crucial to any credible argument or paper about the
Affordable Care Act. I also believe that this will be a great source, because it is not
biased in any way; it simply states the facts.

United States Senate. "The Affordable Care Act: The Impact of Health Insurance Reform on
Health Care Consumers." (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
1. Relevancy
This document is a copy of a government hearing that took place regarding the Affordable
Care Act and the American health care system. The people taking part in this hearing are all
quite knowledgeable of the ACA and various struggles that our health care system faces.
This hearing takes place the year following the passing of the Affordable Care Act.
2. Accuracy
Due to the fact that this is a federal government hearing, this is a very accurate source. Facts
about the Affordable Care Act are being presented throughout the hearing. There are also
some statistics given throughout the hearing that contribute to the accuracy of the document.
3. Currency
This hearing took place in 2011. This took place in the year following when the Affordable
Care Act was passed. Both of these facts verify that this particular document is relevant to
my topic.
4. Authority
The people that are discussing the health care system in this document are all members of the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. All of these individuals are very
knowledgeable of the United States current and past health care system and the implications
of the Affordable Care Act. There was also a chairman present at the hearing to ensure that it
went smoothly and that the information being discussed was accurate.
5. Purpose
One of the main purposes of this document is purely to shed more light on what exactly the
implications of the Affordable Care Act are. In this particular hearing, the Committee
discusses the benefits that can come from the Affordable Care Act that affect the citizens of
our country. The committee is trying to put the ACA into terms so that the average American
will be able to see how it applies to them and their daily lives.
6. Rating
I would rate this source a 4. The reason I am not giving it a 5 is because I dont think it is
quite as valuable a source as the actual Affordable Care Act document itself. With that said, I
do think that this document provides a lot of useful information. This is particularly true in
the sense that it explains some of the benefits of the ACA as well as providing accurate
insight as to the implications it will have on the lives of most Americans.


ONLINE SOURCES
"About the Law." United States Department of Health and Human Services. N.p., n.d. Web. 23
Sept. 2014. <http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/index.html>.
1. Relevancy
This website is the government health care site. Everything found on this website is related to
the American health care system. That means that currently the information found on this
link is about the Affordable Care Act.
2. Accuracy
This is a government website which means the information it contains must be
verified/approved by the federal government. This website serves to be informational about
the different aspects of the Affordable Care Act. For that reason, it does not contain any bias,
it simply states the facts.
3. Currency
Again, because this is a government regulated site, the information is up to date. According
to the website it has been verified in 2014. Also, the fact that all of the information regarding
health care is about the Affordable Care Act shows that the information is current and
relevant.
4. Authority
As I mentioned before, this website is run by the federal government. Government websites
are some of the most reliable since their information comes straight from the government.
More specifically, the information comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
5. Purpose
The purpose of this site is to inform the public about the United States health care system. It
divides the various parts of the Affordable Care Act into easily accessible categories that
allows for a more easy understanding of what all the act entails. Additionally there are some
charts, graphs and links to external sources that can be useful in understanding all the
information provided.
6. Rating
I would rate this site a 4. As I said previously, I do not feel I can give it a 5 because it is not
as direct of a source as the Affordable Care Act itself. I do feel like there is a lot of great
information on this site though. I also find that the graphs make some of the information
much simpler and easier to understand.

"Obamacare / Health Care Laws - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept.
2014. <http://healthcarereform.procon.org/>.
1. Relevancy
This Website is all about Obamacare (also known as the Affordable Care Act). It points out
some of the pros and cons of the act. This will be very useful in helping me to determine my
stance by being able to weigh many of the pros and cons to the ACA.
2. Accuracy
While this website does present both pros and cons, it is unbiased. They take different
points/topics of the Affordable Care Act and give pros and cons to each. The data comes
from researchers of the nonprofit organization that runs the site. Many of the statements are
standpoints that certain individuals have, many of which are a combination of facts and
opinions.
3. Currency
This source is very current. It was last updated just a couple of weeks ago on September 4,
2014. This definitely adds to the reliability of this source.
4. Authority
The organization running this website has been doing so for 10 years. They have a very good
About Us portion of their website which adds to their credibility. They have researchers
who seek out the information that is on their site and have won awards for it. They also have
statistics about the websites use, and so on.
5. Purpose
The purpose of this site is to help Americans decide their view on the Affordable Care Act. It
is also so that people feel as though they have a well-rounded view about such an important
topicit shows both sides of the argument so it is not biased. Similarly, a unique feature of
this website is that it is specifically to discuss the pros and cons of this act.
6. Rating
I would rate this source a 3. It is definitely not a primary source and as I said before, it is not
the Affordable Care Act itself, so I absolutely couldnt give it a 5. I feel that because the pros
and cons are based in much part on the standpoints of other people that it isnt quite as
reliable as some of the other sources I have. However, I do feel like it gives a good overview
and gives more than one perception of each topic discussed.



ARTICLES FROM ACADEMIC DATABASE

Shaw, Frederic E., et al. "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Opportunities for
Prevention and Public Health." The Lancet 384.9937 (2014): 75-82. ProQuest. Web. 26
Sep. 2014
1. Relevancy
This document discusses some of the more specific implications of the Affordable Care Act.
This would be a source I would use in support of the argument that the act is a good thing for
our country. While it may not be a source that I can use all throughout my paper, I do think
that it will prove to be very beneficial.
2. Accuracy
The only bias that I detected was the fact that it was in support of the Affordable Care Act
overall. I did not find any biases within the actual text of the document though. Throughout
the article, the authors have used statistics to support the information that they are stating.
3. Currency
This is a very current article. It was published in July of 2014. The currency of this article is
particularly important, because it has to do a lot with the economy. There is quite a lot that
has changed in the last several years, so it is much more credible having been written just a
couple of months ago.
4. Authority
The authors listed all of the citations from which they pulled their information which helps
their credibility. The authors of this text are from the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
5. Purpose
The purpose of this article is to educate the public about some aspects of the Affordable Care
Act that arent necessarily directly addressed in the actual act. Specifically, this text
addresses the impact the ACA will have on prevention and public health. This is a different
viewpoint than any of the other sources that I have. This is something that affects everyone in
the country.
6. Rating.
I would rate this article a 3. I believe that it is a very useful document that provides a whole
different perspective on the Affordable Care Act. The reason I gave it a 3 instead of a 4 is
due to the fact that I most likely will not be able to use it all throughout my paper. As I said
previously, this is because it focuses solely on the benefits related to prevention and public
health.
Johnson, Eric J., et al. Can Consumers Make Affordable Care Affordable? The Value of Choice
Architecture. Plos ONE 8. 12 (2013): 1-6. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Sept.
2014.
1. Relevancy
First and foremost, this article is relevant because it too discusses the Affordable Care Act.
This particular article focuses more on what we, as consumers, can do to adjust to the act. I
think this could be beneficial regardless of whether or not I choose to agree or disagree
with the act, but especially if I agree that it is a good thing for our country.
2. Accuracy
Of all the sources I have, I feel that this one is probably the most biased. It bases more of its
information off of the surveys/experiments that were conducted. In fact, the abstract even
comments about the bias that the results present. However, I dont believe that the text
compiled by the authors necessarily has too much of a bias.
3. Currency
This article isnt quite as recent as the previous source, but it is still very current. The text
was published in December of 2013. This is important because the data would not be nearly
as relevant if the article had been written in years previous to that.
4. Authority
All of the authors of this article are from various universities from around the world. They
come from departments that range everywhere from sciences to business to psychology to the
center from rationality. There are a total of five contributing authors, and being so diverse,
they all bring something different to the text. This makes the information much more well-
rounded.
5. Purpose
There a couple purposes of this article. The first is to present the bias of many Americans in
relation to the Affordable Care Act. The other purpose is to interpret that data and present it
to US citizens and then discuss possible outcomes.
6. Rating
Similar to several other sources, I am going to rate this article as a 3. I had to give this a
slightly lower rating in much part because it is slightly more biased. However, I do
appreciate that it presents a variety of data taken from Americans nationwide and that such a
variety of qualified authors were a part of this piece.