Popular vs. Scholarly Sources

What is the difference between popular and scholarly sources? There are a few key differences between popular and scholarly sources. One of the biggest reasons for the distinction is that your academic writing will most likely need scholarly work to support your thesis. Scholarly sources generally support their claims with research and other works that ...

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism involves The theft of someone else’s words The theft of someone else’s ideas The failure to properly cite someone’s ideas, either directly or in a paraphrase. Plagiarism can be deliberate or the result of carelessness. When incorporating outside sources, it’s important to be conscious of what constitutes plagiarism and to avoid plagiarizing material. Ignorance of ...

The CRAAP Test –  Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose

The CRAAP Test refers to the acronym “CRAAP” – Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose (Blakeslee 2004). Educated, literate audiences consider the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose of information when trying to evaluate its credibility and reliability. Currency Current research may reinforce or, alternatively, repudiate prior research. Human knowledge — Relevance Does the information directly ...

Digital Literacy

Digital literacy concerns how individuals navigate and employ digital tools to consume and produce information. See AlsoMedium, MediaLiteracyVisual Literacy Writing spaces and technologies are constantly evolving. For example, over the years, writers have moved from writing on stone or bark or papyrus or paper or computer screens. For example, today, someone might shoot off a ...

Quantitative Literacy

Quantitative Literacy refers to the ability to understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute numerical information The ability to interpret quantitative information as it appears in charts, tables, and graphs has always been important. That said, thanks to the emergence of new technologies that count everything–from our web searches to our consumer purchases–numeracy is more important ...

Visual Literacy

The ability to read, produce, and share visual images, animations, and videos is a fundamental 21st Century literacy. Thanks to new writing and entertainment tools, it is increasingly easy to integrate images with words and sound. Strictly speaking, regular reading and writing are a form of visual literacy. The alphabetic, after all, is a visual ...

Evidence & the Writing Process: NASA's model of the big bang & expansion of universe

Evidence

Definition Evidence is Related Concepts: Argument; Concrete, Sensory Language; Claim; Information, Data; How Do I know What Form of Evidence to Use? When you think of the term evidence, what comes to mind? CSI? Law and Order? NCIS? Certainly, detectives and law enforcement officers use evidence to prove that a criminal is guilty. What’s more, they use different ...

Information Literacy: Travelers in line at an airport reading signs as they enter another country.

Information Literacy – Discerning Quality Information from Noise

What is Information Literacy? Information Literacy may be refer to What is Information?Information is everything your senses perceive, including visual, auditory, or kinesthetic data (more). What is Literacy?Literacy is the ability to identify, interpret signs, and communicate with signs, using whatever medium or semiotic system the audience(s) expects you to use. Synonymous Terms Information Literacy ...

Procedural Knowledge

Procedural/Tacit Knowledge (Knowing How)Procedural/Tacit Knowledge pertains to knowing how to do something, even if you cannot exactly explain how you do it.  Sometimes you just know how to do something. Maybe it’s riding a bike, playing a musical instrument, driving a car, or speaking your native language. At some point, someone may have told you ...

Declarative Knowledge

Declarative Knowledge is explicit knowledge about facts, histories, ideas, topics, principles, and concepts. Declarative Knowledge is the sort of knowledge you learn from school or textbooks, encyclopedias, scholarly journals, and trade magazines. Declarative Knowledge involves knowing that something exists (definitional knowledge) or is true or false (propositional knowledge) Synonyms: Conceptual Knowledge; Definitional Knowledge; Explicit Knowledge; ...