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TED 4910: Secondary English Methods: Evaluating and Citing Sources

Library guide for TED 4910.

Peer-Review

What is peer-review?

Content in peer-reviewed or refereed journals has undergone a process by which it is reviewed by experts in the discussed subject matter. The identifying information (such as author name and institutional affiliation) has often been removed during the review, resulting in an unbiased "blind" process. 

Double Blind means the reviewer does not know who the author is, and the author does not know who has reviewed his or her paper.

How do you find peer-reviewed articles?

In many databases, such as ERIC, you can narrow to peer-reviewed or scholarly articles from the advanced search screen, or from the results list.

What is APA?

APA style is the official format for the American Psychological Association and is used widely throughout the social sciences.

Any class you take from the UCCS College of Education will require APA style citation.

If you are taking courses from other colleges, you may be using styles such as MLA, the Chicago Manual of Style, or Turabian. Courses in the sciences will have a wide range of styles as well, so please check with your instructors in other colleges.

The library has many style guides available in print or online. Check our catalog for call numbers and locations.

Help From the Writing Center

Multiliteracy Center

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The Multiliteracy Center can help with formatting papers and citing sources in APA, MLA, and Chicago style rules. Check their website for consultation scheduling and other services.

What is a Scholarly Journal Article?

If your professor told you to use scholarly, or peer-reviewed, sources for your assignment, you need to find an article published in a peer-reviewed journal. Use a library search tools to locate articles, then check them for the following features:

checkmarkIs this an article that was published in a journal? (Hint: Look near the bottom or top of the page for a journal name, volume number, issue number, year and page numbers.)

Does the article tell you where the author works (and maybe their contact details)? (Hint: Look for footnotes by the author's name.)

Is there an abstract at the beginning of the article? (A summary of the article, written by the authors.)

Does the article end with a bibliography or list of works cited? (There could also be extensive footnotes.)

Is the language in the article more technical than a typical magazine or newspaper?

Does the article's formatting look really boring? (No advertisements or glossy color pictures.)

If you answered YES to most of these questions, the article you're looking at is probably scholarly!

How to Cite in APA

Basic Form for Articles:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

Example:

Cambre, B. (2009). Tearing down the walls: Cyber charter schools and the public endorsement of religion. TechTrends: Linking

Research and Practice to Improve Learning, 53(4), 61-64.

Basic Form for Books:

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.

Example:

Burns, M. K., & Parker, D. C. (2014). Curriculum-based assessment for instructional design: Using data to individualize instruction. New York: Guilford

Press.

APA Resources:

Online: OWL at Purdue http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01 This is an excellent online source for checking your sources are cited properly in the paper and in your reference section.

In Print: Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition. We have this manual in our reference collection and on reserves. Reference: BF76.7 .P83 2010a

In EBSCOhost databases (like ERIC): look for the Cite button in the article record. Double check against the APA style manual as EBSCO will often incorrectly capitalize article titles.

Evaluating Websites

There are a few things you should consider when evaluating a website's credibility that you normally don't worry about with books and articles:

Spelling and Grammar

  • If a site is full of typos, don't use it as a source.

Dead Links

  • If many links on the website lead nowhere, no one is making an effort to maintain the site.

Type of Website

  • .edu = educational institution, like a university’s website
  • .gov = United States government website
  • .org = organizational website, often for a non-profit organization but not always
  • .com & .net  = commercial website and most likely the least credible of the websites