What type of audience is the author addressing? Is the publication aimed at a specialized or a general audience? Is this source too elementary, too technical, too advanced, or just right for your needs?

Assignment Question

General guidelines Annotations can be merely descriptive, summarizing the authors’ qualifications (1), sources of information (2), and angles of the story (3). Guidelines Explained INITIAL VIEWS Author What are the author’s credentials–institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Where is the author getting his/her/their information? Is the author associated with a reputable institution or organization? What are the basic values or goals of the organization or institution? This is going to require you to research the African newspaper that you are researching

3. Date of Publication: When was the source published? On Web pages, the date of the last revision is usually at the bottom of the home page, sometimes every page. Is the story ongoing? Are they reporting on something that happened, months, years ago?

4. CONTENT ANALYSIS: Having made an initial appraisal, you should now examine the body of the source.

5. Intended Audience: What type of audience is the author addressing? Is the publication aimed at a specialized or a general audience? Is this source too elementary, too technical, too advanced, or just right for your needs?

6. Objective Reasoning: Is the information covered fact, opinion, or propaganda? It is not always easy to separate fact from opinion. Facts can usually be verified; opinions, though they may be based on factual information, evolve from the interpretation of facts. Skilled writers can make you think their interpretations are facts. Does the information appear to be valid and well-researched, or is it questionable and unsupported by evidence? Assumptions should be reasonable. Note errors or omissions. Are the ideas and arguments advanced more or less in line with other works you have read on the same topic? The more radically an author departs from the views of others in the same field, the more carefully and critically you should scrutinize his or her ideas. Is the author’s point of view objective and impartial? Is the language free of emotion-arousing words and bias?

7. Coverage: Does the work update other sources, substantiate other materials you have read, or add new information? Does it extensively or marginally cover your story? Is the material primary or secondary in nature? Primary sources are the raw material of the research process. Here Newspapers can be both Primary and Secondary, is the author reporting on events that s/he/they observed? If so it is Primary. If not it is a Secondary sources. If it is a secondary source, then where is the author(s) getting their information?

8. How does it address the assignment? How helpful is the source in determining the canon of your topic? How does it fit into the canon?

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