Gathering, Analyzing, and Evaluating Information from Different Sources

1. Gathering, Analyzing, and Evaluating Information from Different Sources Gather Analyze Evaluate

2. Informational Text / Research • You conduct research everyday, in situations far removed from the library or the classroom. When you’re curious about something, you do research in your own way • Consider an activity as simple as deciding which movie you would like to see. • Finding any amount of information- no matter how big or small, how important or incidental- involves research.

3. Steps • Locate and gather the information you are looking for. • Then, you need to break it down into smaller parts, & analyzeit –examine the details and how they relate to each other • Now, assess or evaluate, the issue. • Step by step, you will arrive at an appropriate conclusion.

4. Gathering • Locating and Gathering Information • It’s helpful to consult a variety of different sources when collecting information. • For Example, if you’re planning a spring break vacation, you might refer to travel magazines, the Internet, newspaper ads, vacation planners, or friends. • Knowing what kind of information different sources provide helps you gather ideas.

5. Analyzing Information • Analyzing information • A pile of information is worth nothing until you examine it closely, piece by piece. • After breaking it down into smaller parts, identify the main idea or what is most important about the information from each source.

6. Evaluating Information • Once you’ve examined the information, you need to determine if it is accurate and reliable. Only then can you tell if and how it may be helpful. Sometimes comparing two sources on the same subject helps you assess which information will be most useful. • This step is especially important when you are working with primary sources. • A primary sources provide direct, firsthand information or original literary material. • Examples of primary sources are interviews, speeches, diaries, letters, poems, and short stories. They represents the “raw material,” so to speak. • Secondary sources - Examples are textbooks and critical essays, which contain information that has been already gathered and interpreted.

7. FCAT Sources Prep • Consult a variety of sources, such as advertisements, brochures, newspaper articles, and friends, to gather information about two places that you would like to visit. • Evaluate each source to determine which provides the most useful source of information.

8. How to Be an Active Reader • Your job as an active reader and researcher remains the same. • First you “gather” information by making sure that you’ve read every part of the passage or passages, including any graphs, charts, pictures, or diagrams. • Then you analyze and evaluate the information by identifying the most important ideas and how they relate to each other. Don’t forget to consider the validity of the “sources” in this case, the reading selections.

9. Questions to Ask While Reading • What is the paragraph or graphic about? • How is the information in the passage(s) connected to the information in the table, graph, or map? • How is this information important? How does it serve the authors purpose? • What is the source of this reading selection? • How reliable is the information in terms of currency, accuracy, or objectivity?

10. Toxic Cell Phones • There are approximately 115 million cell phones in use across America. The cell phone has become a standard accessory for most people in the United States. Since technology improves so rapidly and cell phones are inexpensive to produce, consumers replace their phones every eighteen months on the average. This phenomenon results every year in a massive number of discarded cell phones. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that these discarded phones add to the growing amount of electronic waste. The metals from the phones, including lead, mercury, and cadmium from old batteries, are hazardous as they decay in landfills. The decomposed metals leak toxic chemicals into streams and water preserves. • Used cell phones should be recycled or donated for refurbishment and redistribution. However, important information about recycling electronic material is not readily available to the public. Cell phone users need to know, for example, that only some parts of their phone can be recycled safely. To remedy the situation, cell phone manufactures should generate a plan for take-back programs effective at the end of a product’s life. Then, by cooperating with local environmental agencies, distributors should devise a system to facilitate recycling.

11. What is the Info About? • Gather information from different places in the article. First look at the title. Do you usually associate the word toxic with cell phone? As soon as you read the title, ask yourself what this connection might be and look for the answer in the article. Underline details that demonstrate the danger of cell phones.

12. How is the Info Important? • In analyzing the passage, we see that the author is trying to inform or warn the public about the danger of discarded cell phones. At the end of the first paragraph, you learn that discarded phones may pollute our water supply.

13. What is the author suggesting? • The author suggests that cell phone manufactures need to publicize recycling guidelines in order to make it easy for people to safely discard used cell phones.

14. What is the source of the information in the passage? • Since the author expresses strong opinions in the second paragraph, you might infer that this article comes form the op-ed section of a newspaper, in which writers express their opinion about current issues or concerns. Therefore, the facts may or may not be entirely accurate.