So far, you have learned about source criticism, which criteria you should use to evaluate sources, and why you should avoid some types of sources. Now you will use this knowledge actively to assess three sources.

Task 1: https://www.fhi.no/en/news/2020/parental-education-level-affects-childrens-mental-health/

What type of source is this?
Is the source credible?
Who is responsible for the source (any commercial interests)?
What does the text aim to convey (research or advertising)?
What is the message of the source (objective or subjective)?

Task 2: https://www.everydayhealth.com/wellness/top-self-care-tips-for-being-stuck-at-home-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

What type of source is this?
Is the source credible?
Who is responsible for the source (any commercial interests)?
What does the text aim to convey (research or advertising)?
What is the message of the source (objective or subjective)?

Task 3: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ckaestne/pdf/thesispusch.pdf

What type of source is this?
Is the source credible?
Who is responsible for the source (any commercial interests)?
What does the text aim to convey (research or advertising)?
What is the message of the source (objective or subjective)?

Click here for the solution.

Task 1: This is an article published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health on their website in 2020. We can evaluate the publisher as credible and the content as up-to-date. The article presents research findings, and has a reference to the primary research article at the end. It may be useful to read the full research article to gain insight into the field of study. If you want to cite this article in your assignment, we recommend that you read and quote from the primary research article.

Task 2: This is a piece from the online magazine Everydayhealth.com published in 2021. The article refers to different sources through links but has no reference list. The authors are journalists and the article has been "medically reviewed", but we don't know how. If the topic is relevant to you, it may be appropriate to search further for the research they mention, but the Everydayhealth.com piece is not a good source. If you want to say something about health coverage in the media, the article can function as an illustration. The text is informative but exaggerated. The headline and introduction are especially exaggerated, and you should take into account that the text is published in a commercial channel.

Task 3: This is a bachelor's thesis from 2012. If the thesis is relevant to your topic, it may be useful to look more closely at the reference list. As a general rule, we do not recommend using student papers as sources unless they contain groundbreaking information. Examine other sources first, and critically evaluate whether you need to refer to this bachelor's thesis.

Source: Search & Write (2022). Source assessment. https://www.sokogskriv.no/en/sources-and-referencing/source-assessment.html