Evaluation of Sources

Source 1
Kessler, R. C., Akiskal, H. S., Ames, M., Birnbaum, H., & al, e. (2006). Prevalence and Effects
of Mood Disorders on Work Performance in a Nationally Representative Sample of U.S.
Workers.  The American Journal of Psychiatry, 163 (9), 1561-8. Print

1) Relevancy: This article talks about the need for expanding the evaluation of workplace
costs of mood disorders, particularly mania/hypomania. They focus mainly on major
depressive disorder, not noticing or paying attention to mania and hypomania symptoms,
which they are arguing that it needs more attention. This source is relevant for my topic
because it has an example of struggles with identifying bipolar disorder and major
depressive disorder separately and realizing the bipolar symptoms are different.

2) Accuracy: This source doesn’t sound necessarily biased; however, the references do
include a lot of their own work. This could affect their accuracy because it could mean
that they are biased with using and promoting their own work. However, I don’t really
detect a bias within this source, so I don’t think it affected what they were trying to
accomplish.

3) Currency: This source was published in 2006, so it is over five years old and not up to
date. I think the only way it would affect this source is if the workforce didn’t make any
changes to the way, they evaluate mood disorders effects on their employees. There isn’t
any added information after it was published so it’s hard to tell if this source is relevant
now or not.

4) Authority: There are several authors of this article and most of them, I’d say most of them
have at least some experiences for this subject. Most of them have a PhD and I know one
of them is a Psychiatrist who specializes with mood disorders. I would say that they have a
lot of knowledge with the subject, however there are some areas of the article where I’m
sure they weren’t experts on, which makes me question the accuracy of the article.

5) Purpose: I think this article was published to mainly persuade because they want the
workforce to change their evaluation techniques for mood disorders. The article is
presented with only one point of view, to change workforce evaluations. The intended
audience is the workforce, since the article wants them to change their ways.

6) Rating: I would rate this source with a 2 simply because I’m not sure how relevant it
would be for my topic. I mainly just want to generally inform people about bipolar
disorder. I will have to decide if I want to add something this “small” into my paper. It has
a very good argument for the struggles on having bipolar disorder, but I think it isn’t
important enough to add to my paper.
Source 2
Ambilichu, Moses Tabe, et al. “Treatment-Resistant Juvenile Bipolar Disorder with Psychosis.”
Psychiatric Annals, vol. 44, no. 11, 2014, pp. 489–90. ProQuest Nursing,
doi:10.3928/00485713-20141106-02.

1) Relevancy: This source relates to my topic because it was pretty much a case study. This
source talks about a young boy who was admitted into a hospital while in psychosis. The
article goes into detail about his medications and symptoms, and I can use this
information as examples of symptoms and medications in my paper.
2) Accuracy: I do not detect any bias within this article. This article is definitely factual and
not opinionated. This article is a case study about doctors trying to find the right
medications for a boy who’s been struggling to find the right combo of medications for
himself.
3) Currency: This source was published in 2014, so it isn’t up to date. I wouldn’t say that
the age of this article really affects the relevancy of my topic. It still describes problems
with diagnosing, medications, and symptoms which, will always be important while
talking about bipolar disorder.
4) Authority: I would say that the authors definitely have authority over their article. All of
the authors all have a MD or a BSc and all but one specializes in child psychiatry. I
believe that if they have a MD and their profession is a child psychiatrist.
5) Purpose: The purpose of this article is to inform. This article was presented with only one
point of view, the point of view from a doctor. I think the information is clearly stated
considering it was a case study.
6) Rating: I would rate this source as a 4. I think it’s a very credible article and the examples
of symptoms and medications they use are really good for my paper. I think it was a good
length and had really good points. The authors knew how to get their point across. Short
and sweet.

Source 3
Chapter 9: Adults with extra needs. (2014). Vari Drennan and Claire Goodman, Oxford
Handbook of Primary Care and Community Nursing, 2nd edition.; Oxford (pp. 395-
446). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1) Relevancy: Only part of this chapter is relevant for my topic because it only talks about
bipolar disorder from pages 441-442, however it covers a lot of information over the
mental illness. It has a definition, some stats for who normally gets diagnosed and at what
age, the symptoms, and treatments. This source will be very good for my topic because it
has so much information (that was written by nurses) about bipolar disorder.
2) Accuracy: This source does not have any bias to it. This book was written by nurses for
nurses. It’s presented as fact from what other nurses have learned and experienced to
 share information for other aspiring nurses. I think this source is free of error because it
was written from information that was gathered from actual experiences and cases with
patients and doctors.
3) 3. Currency: The source was published in 2014, so it is a little outdated, but I don’t think
it affects the purpose of this source. There isn’t any updated information because it is a
book, but if there were I think they would just come out with another edition. The
information is technically considered outdated, but the information is still very relevant
because it has symptoms and a lot of information on bipolar disorder written from nurses.
4) Authority: I would say that the authors are very credible and have experience for this
topic because they’re nurses. They work in the hospital and have several patients who
have bipolar disorder. They have first-hand experience with patients diagnosed with
bipolar disorder, therefore I would say they are one of the most qualified people to
credibly talk about bipolar disorder.
5) Purpose: The purpose of this article is to inform people. The book itself is to teach
aspiring nurses about conditions, treatments, and how to properly deal with said
conditions. The intended audience is aspiring nurses and I think that the nurses who
wrote the book state the information as clear and simply as they could. However, because
there is so much information on so many conditions, there was no need for intense detail
over all of those symptoms.
6) Rating: I would rate this chapter at a 4. I rated this source as a 4 because while they have
a lot of information about my topic, they also only briefly talk about bipolar disorder.
Because it’s so brief and not really super detailed and because there are no cases as
examples, I didn’t rate it as a 5.

Source 4
“Bipolar disorder.” Mayo Clinic, 16 Feb. 2021, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
conditions/bipolar-disorder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355961

1) Relevancy: This source includes a lot of information about treatments options from
medications, to psychotherapy, to home remedies. All of the information that is given is
very useful for my topic. I will have a whole section of my research paper about
treatments and this website will be a great source for that.
2) Accuracy: I think the information itself isn’t biased, however they have parts on the page
where they kind of promote themselves by adding links for requesting appointments or
using Mayo Clinic to receive help. I do not think that affects the value at all. If anything,
their “biased” parts of the website are there to help people who are concerned that they or
someone they know may have bipolar disorder.
3) Currency: This source is very up to date. Because the source is so new, it wouldn’t affect
the relevancy at all. This source also includes specific up to date medications which will
be very nice for my research paper.
 4) Authority: I believe that the authors do have experience and/or credentials to be
considered an authority. While the website doesn’t have specific authors, I did more
research and found a list of the Mayo Clinic Staff and they all have a medical degree. So,
from the given information, all I can say is that I hope Mayo Clinic chose the write author
for the website and if so, the source is very credible.
5) Purpose: The purpose of the website is to inform. The intended audience is anyone who is
concerned that they or someone they know may have bipolar disorder. It includes facts on
diagnosis, treatments, coping and support, and some preparation for an appointment if the
reader were to want to make an appointment.
6) Rating: I would rate this source as a 5. I really liked all the information that it provided. I
especially liked the number of treatments that it provided like home remedies and coping
and support.

Source 5
“Patient Stories.” American Psychiatric Association, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/
bipolar-disorders/patient-story
1) Relevancy: This source is very relevant to my topic because the website consists of
personal experiences from people who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. There are
two stories, and they include how these people felt, which is very important for my topic.
2) Accuracy: I do not detect any bias in this website. The authors are technically the people
who were diagnosed, and it is their story, so there is no bias. The information is written
with facts and technically written with opinions as well. The fact is that this is someone’s
actual story, and the opinion is how they viewed their situation.
3) Currency: I have no idea when either of these were posted, but I do know that it wouldn’t
matter anyway. It doesn’t matter because these are someone’s actual stories and they
shared them to the world. Someone’s story will always be relevant.
4) Authority: The authors are the people who shared their own story, so I’d say that they
have the experience to be writing about the topic. They are the most credible people to be
writing about bipolar disorder, if not the second most credible (after a psychiatrist or
someone who specializes in mental or bipolar disorders).
5) Purpose: The purpose o this article is to inform people on a diagnosed person’s story. It is
to show people that there is no shame with having bipolar disorder, it isn’t something that
anyone can control. They wrote their stories so that other diagnosed people won’t feel so
alone.
6) Rating: I would rate this at a 4. I rated this source as a 4 simply because I wish they had
more stories. They only had two on there, which is great to have, but it would be even
better if there were more experiences shared.
Source 6
Bipolar Disorder from my view [@BipolarOwn]. {2021, March 29}. I’ve been dumped as soon
as they knew the truth, rejected, misunderstood. Felt unseen, felt alone even if I
was surrounded by the people that I love, to be honest that is where I felt the most
alone [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/BipolarOwn/status/1376707727867719682
1) Relevancy: This source relates to my topic because it is someone’s story. This tweet talks
about feeling rejected and misunderstood as soon as the author had shown some
symptoms of bipolar disorder while in a relationship. This is a huge problem that occurs
with people who are diagnosed and it’s something that is really important and something
I want to include in my paper.
2) Accuracy: I don’t detect any bias. This is how someone is feeling during a hard time in
their life and we can’t deny a person’s feelings. Yes, it technically is an opinion that the
author has on the situation, but it’s something that anyone would feel. It’s hard to judge
the accuracy of a person’s feelings, we just need to believe they are being honest.
3) Currency: This tweet is very up to date. The age of the source wouldn’t affect the
relevancy anyway because it is a personal situation and story. Considering that this is a
tweet, he is always updating the world on how he is feeling.
4) Authority: I think the author is very credible and has experience necessary to talk about
bipolar disorder. The author themself was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Which, again,
is one of the most credible people who talk about bipolar disorder.
5) Purpose: I think the purpose of this tweet is to inform readers and share his thoughts. If
he is able to share his thoughts, feelings, and situations, maybe other people will be
willing to share their experiences with the world, too. The more people who share their
stories, the more comfortable people will be.
6) Rating: I would rate this tweet as a 5. I rated this source a 5 because I think the words the
author used within the tweet where perfectly said. It perfectly describes what many
people who were diagnosed and who are having a hard time with relationships go
through. It is also a primary source, written firsthand by someone who has bipolar
disorder.

Source 7
“Bipolar Disorder.” National Institute of Mental Health, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/
bipolar-disorder.shtml
1) Relevancy: This source relates to my topic because it has statistics for U.S adults and
U.S. adolescents who were diagnosed with BP. They also have stats on women vs men
 who were diagnosed. It gives percentages for women, men, and adolescents who have
been diagnosed which will be very useful for my paper.
2) Accuracy: I don’t detect any bias from this cite because it was purely surveys from
people who were diagnosed. Most of their sources came from research from Harvard
surveys, which is a top-notch university. Because everything in this cite was surveys and
data, it was presented as fact instead of opinion.
3) Currency: The charts and data were from 2001-2003, so they are a little outdated. I don’t
think it would affect the relevancy of my paper because most of the stats that I have seen
from multiple sources all state the same stats.The last updated information that I see was
in November of 2017, but I have no idea what that information is.
4) Authority: I have no idea if the author themself has any authority. However, I do know
that he got his sources from Harvard and from either books or scholarly journals of
people who do have authority. Also, the name of the website is National Institute of
Mental Health, so they would have accurate information on anything about mental health.
5) Purpose: The purpose of this article is to inform readers. The article is presented form one
point of view but has data and surveys from other people. The information is short and
strait to the point, and clearly stated.
6) Rating: I would rate this source at a 4 simply because there wasn’t that much information.
However, the sources are accurate, and the information is very useful.

Source 8
Smith, Melinda and Jeanne Segal. “Bipolar Disorder Signs and Symptoms.” HelpGuide,
www.helpguide.org/articles/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-disorder-signs-and-
symptoms.htm
1) Relevancy: Oh, this source is very relevant to my paper. There are several parts to this
source that are very common in some of my other sources, but I like how this source has
everything about bipolar disorder. It has definitions for mania and depressive episodes
and treatments.
2) Accuracy: I don’t detect any bias within this source. There is a lot of factual information
about bp. The source is from HelpGuide so, it’s all about recognizing the signs and
finding help for bipolar disorder.
3) Currency: I’m not sure when this source was published, however because of the
information in the source, it wouldn’t matter if it was outdated or not. The information is
just about the symptoms and signs of bipolar disorder. The symptoms don’t go away or
change, so it doesn’t affect the relevancy of the paper.
4) Authority: I don’t know who wrote this and they didn’t provide any sources for their
information. However, I do know from other sources, from books and scholarly journals,
that the information is accurate.
 5) Purpose: The purpose of the article is definitely to inform. This source wants to give out
information to people who have or think they have bp. It gives information on treatments
and how to cope with being diagnosed. It is a very well written source.
6) Rating: I would rate this source a 5. I really like this source because it gives out a lot of
information for people who have been diagnosed or who want to know about bp. It
doesn’t just cover the basics. It goes into detail about how someone with bp can help
themselves.

Source 9
“My Story With Bipolar Disorder.” National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org/
Personal-Stories/My-Story-with-Bipolar-Disorder
1) Relevancy: This source is very relevant to my paper because it is someone’s personal
experience.Their story includes struggles, relationship problems, confusion and more.
The author shared his experience from his first episode, to his third and worst episode
until he was officially diagnosed with severe bipolar 1 disorder.
2) Accuracy: This source was a shared personal experience, so I would say this source is
pretty darn accurate. There wasn’t any bias within the source and the author explained a
lot of details so readers can feel what they went through.
3) Currency: I’m not sure when this source was published but it doesn’t matter because it
was a personal experience. I don’t think personal experiences can be outdated. Even
though this source may be outdated, it would still have relevancy for all time.
4) Authority: I would say the author has experience because this source is literally their own
experience with bipolar disorder. The website I found this article is called National
Alliance on Mental Health. They allow people to write their own experiences to help
others feel like they’re not alone.
5) Purpose: The purpose of this article is to share their own experience. They shared what
they went through so that other people who are struggling with a diagnosis or people who
are concerned or feel alone. That was the purpose for this article.
6) Rating: I would rate this source as a 5. This source is a great example for many things
that I would want to include in a paper. The struggles of being diagnosed correctly, the
struggles with relationships, and the emotions and symptoms that the author was
experiencing.

Source 10
Burgess, Lana. “How can bipolar disorder affect relationships?” MedicalNewsToday,
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324380
1) Relevancy: This source is about relationship struggles with bipolar disorder. It’s relevant
to my topic because there is a lot of struggles that a diagnosed person has to deal with.
One of the hardest struggles is relationships and I wanted more information about that.
2) Accuracy: I don’t detect any bias from this source. It seems that they got their sources
from different websites about coping and working through struggles in relationships, so it
could be unsupported, however the majority of the source is explaining how to cope and
there are many methods, and I don’t really think they couldn’t be that inaccurate.
3) Currency: This source was published on February 6 of 2019, so it’s up to date. Even
though it is up to date I think the information in this source would be useful for a while
because it is simply giving examples on how to cope with being diagnosed with bipolar
disorder. There have been no updates to this article.
4) Authority: I’m not sure if the author has authority with this article or not, I would say
maybe not so much just because she used other sources from websites. However, it was
medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg who has a Ph.D. and a CRNP. That makes me
feel a bit better about the authority of this source.
5) Purpose: The purpose of this article is to inform people. The author wanted to show ways
that bipolar disorder can affect a relationship and she wanted to inform people on ways to
cope with said struggles. The intended audience is for anyone who is in a relationship
with someone who has bipolar disorder, family, friends, or partners. It has very useful
tips on how to work and support with each other.
6) Rating: Because this article gives tips and advice on how to cope and how to make a
relationship work at its best with someone with bipolar disorder, I would rate this at a 4. I
think it is a really good and helpful source for people who need it, and it would be a great
source to include on a paper. I want to talk about the struggles, but I also want
information on how to get help with those struggles and this source does that.