USU Libraries  Evaluating Sources Tutorial

ARTICLE EVALUATION PT. 2

SCENARIO

For your Cell Biology course you are assigned a 6-8 page research paper on mitochondrial dysfunction and diseases. You can use peer-reviewed articles and credible information from the web. 

Use the evaluation criteria to determine if the source below is relevant and credible for your assignment and topic. 

Journal article about Mitochondria with call outs for who, what, and where

WHO: A quick Google search to learn more about the authors, Lucas McGeorge and Annette Kin, showed only a connection to this article and that it was written as a prank.

WHAT: This website's abstract indicates the article is about mitochondria and includes information about the diseases and dysfunction associated with mitochondria. This matches the research topic you've been assigned. However, this article says mitochondria are sometimes called "midichlorians." A Google search shows midichlorians are associated with the Star Wars franchise. Additionally, some of the sources cited as references seem to include Star Wars characters as authors.

Screenshot of midichlorian references

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHERE: This article was published in Austin Journal of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. However when we check in the journal's archive this article doesn't appear on the journal's website.

WHY: This article includes a section on dysfunction and diseases associated with midichlorians. Reading this section we find it sometimes doesn't make sense and refers to "knowledge of the force," "Kyloren syndrome," "Yoda's ataxia," and "Wookie's disease." 

section of midichlorian article explaining why this is relevant to the research

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION: While this article at first glance seems useful and relevant to your topic, the article does not appear to be credible.