CLIP Quick Guide: Virtual Handout Jirout 2024

You have ten minutes to decide what you think about a source! 

Step 1:  Read for Five.  You have five minutes to skim your assigned source.  Focus on the abstract or introduction, features of the article, and see if you can identify the main argument. 

Step 2:  Fact-Check for Five.  Consider the following questions, and use Google and the web to help you evaluate sources like a fact-checker would.  You don't have to answer all of the questions - just enough to decide whether this is a trustworthy source or not:

• Investigate the source:  What do you know about the author?  What are their credentials and/or their lived experience?  Is this source trustworthy?  Is it scholarly or not?
• Find trusted coverage: What do other resources say about this topic?  What is the consensus (even if you disagree)?  
• Trace claims, quotes, and media back to the original context: Open up a few sources, and look at the original context.  Are quotes and claims fairly represented?
• What else is important about the source, especially in the context of the research question?  Things that may be relevant, depending on the topic, include:  relevance; purpose; audience; date of publication.

Research question:  You are writing a paper for CPN 101 about whether the minimum wage should be increased.

Source A:  "How to Kill Opportunity," Hoover Digest

Source B:  "The Rise of American Minimum Wages, 1912–1968," The Journal of economic perspectives

Source C:  "She Works 2 Jobs. Her Grocery Budget Is $25. This Is Life Near Minimum Wage," All Things Considered

Source D:  "Minimum Wage Not Keeping Up With Growing Economy," Gale Opposing Viewpoints

Source E:  "The Budgetary Effects of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021," Congressional Budget Office

Source F:  "A $15 minimum wage would have significant and direct effects on the federal budget," Economic Policy Institute