Evaluating Internet Sources

Evaluating Internet Sources

Part 1:

The URL for the site I explored: http://teachforall.org/en/network-learning/importance-trust

After skimming over this article, I noticed that it was based almost entirely on the author's personal experience and did not include any scholarly sources. Judging by the source, the site seems more of like a fun article site rather than a serious database filled to the brim with facts. The article was filled with plenty of evidence to support the author's points, but of course all of that was personal experience and therefore the article seems questionable to me.

 I liked a few of the points though, particularly the main one which reads, "Building trust is a process. And it's not just about trust between teachers and students, but between teachers and other teachers, and support staff too. The end goal is the moment we can collectively have honest dialogue about our students, our practices and our impact." (Brown, "The Importance of Trust").

Judging the website by the general criteria guidelines:

• The site explains what the organization is quite clearly, it is called TeachForAll. This organization specializes in essays and facts about academics, but does not specialize in the specific issue of trust. The information on the site is acceptable for this essay, as the essay is mainly about how trust can apply in schools.
• The purpose of this essay is to persuade, and yes, the information is quite biased since it only focuses on the opinions of the author and their small community.
• There is a very small amount of advertising and it does not get in the way of the content, nor does it enhance it much.
• The site itself seems to claim that research is done through the sharing of many different viewpoints through many different regions. However, reading this article only supplies you with a small community's opinion, and not facts. Therefore, the accuracy of the content is probably low.

Part 2:

Article name: Organizational socialization tactics and newcomer adjustment: The mediating role of role clarity and affect-based trust relationships.

Wow! After looking through this journal article, I must say I'm quite impressed. There were a few strong points stated in the beginning and then authors went to town, dissecting each of those points down to their nervous systems! There were tons of in-text citations and a references list that spanned over 6 pages! While the authors did not appeal to emotion that often, the facts were well written and made an impression, not in a forceful way but in an elegant way.

Although the topic was basically the same and so were the main points between these two works, the authors of the journal article were much more informed and delivered their points formally. Especially the main point near the beginning, which reads, "More specifically, we propose that institutionalized tactics lead to adjustment through building trustful relationships with supervisors and co-workers." (Lapointe, Vandenberghe, Boudrias, 2014). Not only were there actual sources (More than one hundred!), the points made took many different organizations and scholarly works into consideration. The previous article did appeal slightly more to emotion than the new article, but overall the new article is much more impressive and is basically a direct upgrade, even if it is a long read.

One of the sources the article used a lot: Journal of Applied Psychology

Works Cited:

- Brown, Lakimbre, Dr. "The Importance of Trust." TeachForAll. TeachForAll, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 

     12 Oct. 2015.

- Lapointe, Émilie, Christian Vandenberghe, and Jean-Sébastien Boudrias. "Organizational                      Socialization Tactics And Newcomer Adjustment: The Mediating Role Of Role Clarity And                Affect-        Based Trust Relationships." Journal Of Occupational & Organizational Psychology          87.3 (2014): 599-     624. Academic Search Premier. Web. Boulder CO. 12 Oct. 2015.