Knowledge Check Reflection: Evaluating Source Material
Inspired by activities found on page 462 of your textbook, respond to the following prompt:
Your readings this week claim that “most of the evidence that is used in arguments on public issues […] comes with considerable baggage” (p. 455).
Find an article in a journal, newspaper, or magazine that uses evidence to support a claim of some public interest. It might be a piece about new treatments for COVID-19, internet privacy issues, dietary recommendations for school children, proposals for air-quality regulation, the rise in numbers of campus sexual assaults, and so on.
You are free to choose and topic of your choice but it must have a human interest/impact argument.
Identify several specific pieces of evidence, information, or data presented in the article and then evaluate the degree in which you would accept, trust, or believe those arguments.
Explain why you are inclined to trust or mistrust any claims based on the data while applying our source literacy and evaluation skills.
