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RELS 221: Women in Early Christianity (Johnson Hodge)

Fall 2024

"Popular" Sources

The (Modern) Information Lifecycle: 

Suggested Sources:

Newspapers

For even more options, visit: https://libguides.holycross.edu/newspapers

Magazines & Other Periodicals

Religious Publications:

Multimedia:

Lateral Reading:

Lateral Reading is a nuanced technique of evaluating websites and other kinds of sources. 

The video below explains what lateral reading is, why it's important, and how to do it. 

Questioning Your Sources:

(Always remember to carefully evaluate your sources,  -- especially when they come from the open web!)

 

Who...

 Who is the author?

 How is the author qualified? 

 Is the author an expert?

 What is the author's bias? (Remember that a bias may not be directly stated -- but there is almost always some bias!))

Be wary if you cannot determine an author or group responsible for the content you are reading.
 

What...

 What is the source? Is it a research report? An entertainment piece? An opinion essay? 

 What does this tell you about the source's audience, purpose, and potential bias(es) or shortcoming(s)? 
 

When...

 Is the source recent (or, if digital, regularly updated)?  When was it published? 

 Is there any information which seems out-of-date? 
 

Where...

 Who hosts the site? OR Who publishes this resource?

 Does the host/publisher have bias?  (Remember that a bias may not be directly stated.)

 What is the domain extension?

The publisher and/or domain can help you determine how reputable a website is. For example, .gov is the domain for United States government sites and .edu is for US Educational institutuions. Note that not all .com sites are unreliable and not all .org sites are reputable -- .org simply means that the website is for a non-profit group. 
 

Why...

 What is the purpose and audience of the source?

 What is the benefit, and/or who benefits, if this source reaches and/or successfully convinces readers? 

 

How...

 By what means was this source created? 

 Does the resource provide its sources?

 Does it refer/link you to other credible sources?

 Can you determine whether the information came from, and whether the original source/info is represented accurately?

Be wary of any source which does not reference sources, especially when it contains information that clearly or at least likely originated somewhere else. First, failing to cite sources is unethical, and reflects poorly on the author(s)! Second, without knowing the original source, you can't adequately evaluate the weaknesses and/or biases of the information, or know if it is even being represented faithfully in the "secondary" source.