Choosing the Right

Source Material
Prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maia Chkotua
WEEK 3
AIMS
oChoose academically credible materials
oKnow who the experts are
oRecognize what makes a text academic
oChoose relevant materials
oManage your materials
Choosing Academically
Credible Source
material for the Essay
Define a source material
Source materials are
obooks
oarticles
oother documents that provide information for a piece of research
Selecting good quality source material – KEY skill.
Developing the ability to select the right type of material is

particularly important if the internet is used for research.

The researcher is fully responsible for selecting the right
material.
Academic journal articles are considered more
academically acceptable than newspaper articles.

What is acceptable for the essay will depend of the topic.

Example: Analyze media coverage of the 2008 banking
crisis.
Exercise 1, p. 37
Knowing Who
Experts Are
Key vocabulary
Credentials – someone’s credentials are their previous
achievements, training, and general background, which indicate
that they are qualified to do something

Cite – if you cite something, you quote it or mention it, especially

as an example or proof of what you are saying.
Knowing who experts are
Before reading a text, check authors’ credentials. Authors of good
quality, reliable information generally
have professional qualifications showing they have the knowledge
and training to write about the topic
are connected to or work for a recognized and respected
organization, for example, a university, a research institute, a
government department, or professional association.
Knowing who experts are
have their work published by recognized publishing houses,
journals or organizations
are cited in other academic works
do not gain commercial advantage through promoting certain
views
 TIPS
Exercise 2, p.38

If you are not sure whether a publisher, journal or organization is

suitable, ask your lecturer and/or university librarian for advice
If you do not know whether the author of a book or article has
been cited in other academic works, check the bibliographies of
related publications
Search for the item through Google Scholar (
https://scholar.google.com/), which shows how often publications
have been cited in other academic literature.
 TIPS
Exercise 3, p.39

Use educational or government websites with internet

suffixes: .edu, .ac or .gov as they are considered more reliable;

Avoid online material that is published through commercial sites

(with a .com or .co suffix) as they may be biased;

Websites of non-commercial organizations usually have a .org

suffix. Cite widely known and respected organizations, such as the
United Nations.
CHOOSING UP-TO-
DATE MATERIALS
Seminal
work – an
important
and
influential
work
Choosing the material which was published within the last five
years is ideal.
Meaning of ‘up-to-date’ depends on the topic.
Referring to an older material is acceptable if it is a seminal work
or you are giving a historical overview of different scholars’ ideas.
 RECOGNIZING
ACADEMIC TEXTS
When authors write in an academic style for
an academic audience, they are more likely to:
Support opinions with evidence
Refer to other authors by surname (for example, ‘Davis’ rather
than ‘John Davis’, or ‘Mr. Davis’)
Give bibliographic information about works cited (for example,
‘Davis (2009, p. 24) states that…
Use ‘objective’ language (for example, ‘It is often said that…’
rather than ‘We often say that…’
 Noun phrase – is
a noun or a
pronoun, or a
group of words
based on a noun
or pronoun
Use formal language (for example, ‘numerous’ rather than
‘lots of’)
Use precise language
Use noun phrases rather than verbs (for example, ‘excessive
alcohol consumption’ rather than ‘drinking too much alcohol’)
When authors write in an academic style for an academic audience,
they are LESS likely to:

Make claims that are not backed up by evidence

Make exaggerated claims or categorical statements (that do not
have exceptions) (for example, ‘everyone likes to have fun’)
Refer to other authors by their full names or first names, or use
titles such as ‘Dr.’ or ‘Mrs’.
Use emotive words, for examples, ‘fantastic’, ‘dreadful’
 Exercise 4,5, pp.40-
41

Use personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’

Use slang or informal expressions
Use contractions such as ‘isn’t’ or ‘won’t’
Begin sentences with ‘and’ or ‘but’
Use certain punctuation marks such as the dash (-) or the
exclamation mark (!)
 Choosing Relevant
Materials
Using Abstracts to Choose
Relevant Articles
 Exercise 6,7. p. 42

Titles of academic texts are often very descriptive of their

contents, so that is a good place to start.
Most databases will supply abstracts of articles as well as
bibliographic information. Reading abstracts is helpful to decide
on the relevant material.
To decide whether a book is relevant to the topic, check the back
cover or inside the front cover for a summary of contents.
MANAGING YOUR
MATERIALS
Managing your materials

It is important to have a good system for storing the research

material.
For online sources use ‘favorites’ function in your computer
When you choose the source material make sure that you have
the full bibliographic information for each item
Bibliographic information for BOOKS

The author or authors are more than one, keep the names in
the same order in which they appear on the cover
The date (use the date of the edition you are using, disregard
the dates of reprints)
The title (and edition if relevant)
The publisher
The place of publication (usually the city)
Bibliographic information for a chapter in a book

If you have consulted a chapter within an edited volume, you also

need to record
the author and
the title of the chapter,
the name of the editor(s) and the title of the book, and
the page numbers of the chapter (first and last).
Bibliographic information for journal articles
The author (s) if there are more than one, keep the names in the
same order in which they appear
The date
The title of the article
The title of the journal
The volume and issue number
The page numbers (first and last) of the article
REMEMBER
Choose materials written by authors with suitable academic or
professional credentials
Choose materials that have been written in an academic style
for an academic source
When searching on the internet, choose materials
from .edu, .ac, or .gov sites
Choose up-to-date texts, unless you have a good reason to refer
to older sites.
REMEMBER
To help you decide whether a book is relevant to your topic, skim
read the back cover, table of contents, index and introduction
To help you decide whether an article is relevant, read the abstract
If the material you have is too difficult to read, familiarize yourself
with the topic by reading texts written for a general audience.
Keep a full bibliographic record of everything you have read for
your topic.