Secondary Research (PART 2)
- Created by: R_S_E
- Created on: 22-06-14 13:42
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- Types of secondary sources I could use for secondary research (PART 2)
- Magazines and articles
- Aimed at 'normal' people so may not be quite as detailed or accurate as, say academic journals
- Use them in conjunction with other sources
- History based ones e.g. About History or BBC History
- Probably written by people who know their stuff as the magaxzines have muxh to lsoe by hiring people who don't know what they're talking about
- Understandable as aimed at a 'normal' person
- Aimed at 'normal' people so may not be quite as detailed or accurate as, say academic journals
- Websites
- Some websites e.g. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone = may not have expertise, a good reputation = lessens credibility
- Check the creator of the website (if it doesn't give one treat it with caution)
- Cross reference the information it gives with more reliable sources to get an indication of how reliable it is
- Can be out of date / made a long time ago
- Check the last time they updated it to see if it accounts for recent information
- Could include blogs, academic websites, educational websites
- Very fast to do
- Often more up to date than books/journals etc. because it is so much easier to update
- Blogs by academics would have good credibility as they would have been written by experts (e.g. pHd) who have a vested interest not to be untruthful in case they damage their reputation
- Some websites e.g. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone = may not have expertise, a good reputation = lessens credibility
- Newspapers
- Journalist may not have any particular expertise in history and not have a good reputation in that field = decreases credibility
- Research who they are before using it to check it out
- Can be deeply opinionated and controversial = bias = decreases credibility
- Don't take anything written for granted - cross reference with other sources to check its reliability (agreement = reliable)
- Could exaggerate to sell papers (vested interest to exaggerate) = decreases credibility
- Don't take anything written for granted - cross reference with other sources to check its reliability (agreement = reliable)
- Could exaggerate to sell papers (vested interest to exaggerate) = decreases credibility
- Views could be affected by their political leaning i.e. right/left wing = bias = decreases credibility
- Use a mixture of papers about the same thing to try and get a balanced view
- Online or actually in a paper - by a journalist or a columnist e.g. a historian with a column
- Include eye witness accounts, interviews etc. = ability to percieve = credibility
- Vested interest not to be completely untruthful or the paper could damage their reputation and lose readers
- Columns by professional historians or likewise qualified individuals will be written by people with expertise in history and have a good reputation as the paper decided to hire them (wouldn't hire someone useless)
- Online archives of newspapers make it very quick and easy to access
- Journalist may not have any particular expertise in history and not have a good reputation in that field = decreases credibility
- Magazines and articles
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