1a) The author of my first source is Haya El Nasser. I wasn’t able to discover much about her background other than she is a journalist for USA Today. The majority of her articles are on society and housing developments. The source that published the article is USA Today, which is a newspaper accused of shallow reporting and criticized for having conservative views. As far as I can tell, the affiliation toward USA Today does not cast doubts about the article.
1b) The intended audience for USA Today would be average citizens that are looking at the latest news. Since it is a national newspaper there is a national audience but the USA Today website is available internationally. Having the backing of a national newspaper I believe that Nasser and USA Today would assume the audience trusts them to put out credible reliable information.
1c) The purpose for the website is a news media outlet designed to inform American’s about the happenings throughout the country. The journalist released a story that went against the “common knowledge” of gated communities in society, which is newsworthy for the public. The source’s purpose was to write an in-depth article about the workings of gated communities.
1d) The source is valid, reliable, biased, comprehensive, relevant, outdated, controversial
2a) The author for this article is Edward J. Drew & Jeffrey M. McGuigan. After doing some research I was unable to find anything about the authors. The article is posted on the International Foundation for Protection Officers. The IFPO is a foundation that would support gated communities because protection officers work in the gates. Based on the article I don’t believe the affiliation challenges the writers’ authority.
2b) The primary audience for IFPO’s website would be any citizen interesting in applying for that job. This limits the audience because that group is made up of middle to lower class citizens. The authors would assume that the people that read that article are interested in moving to or learning about living communites.
2c) The IFPO is a home base for registered protection officers. It provides industry testimonials, educational programs, and FAQs about becoming a protection officer. The author’s weren’t in line with the website’s purpose but rather gave an objective outlook on the safety of gated communities.
2d) The source was valid, credible, balanced, comprehensive, relevant, outdated
Throughout the public, there’s often a notion that gated communities are reserved for the upper
April 20, 2010 at 5:54 pm |
Hi Grant. I am glad you seemed to have found at least one credible, balanced source you might draw on in your essay. I am curious as to why you found the USA article so outdated and controversial, even as you labeled it as valid and credible. I also want you to realize that even if we do not consider a source reliable, we can still use it in our essay for some reason, as long as we are not using it as a credible source to rely on for some important point. As Zosha should have discussed with you all, we can use all kinds of sources for varied reasons. Unreliable or even controversial ones often serve to create tension in our work. By working against sources, we can often generate good discussions for consideration.
Also, I was hoping for you to practice putting these sources into conversation, so I could offer feedback on your sourcework. Oh well….