After finding different source materials for your work, take a few more time to evaluate the material before you start working on an assignment or thesis. By considering the questions below, you can specify for yourself which sources you find are, for example, still current and which meet the criteria for scientific or research. On this page you can also help consider copyright and ethical use of information. You can find the Xamk referencing guide on the Xamk online guides front page.
You can reflect on the relevancy of materials by answering the questions listed below. Always remember to apply source criticism.
The topicality and timeliness of information
The relevancy of information
Who is the information provider, the author of the source?
The credibility, truthfulness and accuracy of information
Purpose of information
Souce: Evaluating Information – Applying the CRAAP Test Meriam Library. 2010. California State University, Chico. WWW Document. Updated 17.9.2010. Available at https://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf. [Accessed 2 Aug 2018].
When using text, images, music, videos, or anything else makes as source material, it is worth remembering that these are protected by copyright, which is automatically generated by the author. So you cannot use the works of others as your own without the right holder's permission. The material made by the other may to some extent be used directly on the basis of the so-called right of citations, but the original source must also be mentioned. As a rule, in (scientific) writing, source materials are referenced, and the thing is told in their own words. In this case, it is important that sources are referred to both within the in-text as source references and in the list of references at the end. The original source must be mentioned whenever you take information and thoughts from another source in your text, whether printed or electronic (book, magazine), picture or text, or, say, teaching slides. In the Learn more -section below you will find links to the Copyright and Responsible Research pages.
The source reference tells the reader which part of the thoughts in the text are your own and which are borrowed from others. If source references are not clearly marked in the text, you may be guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism commonly refers to the unauthorized copying of another text, thoughts, or ideas. More often than not, plagiarism is not done intentionally but is unintended. By learning the correct source reference techniques right at the beginning of your studies, you avoid plagiarism doubts. Xamk's source citation instructions can be found in the online source reference guide.
The University of Applied Sciences in Southeast Finland has a source identification program Turnit (ex. Ourginal), through which most of the study assignments are checked, as well as all theses. With Turnit, it is possible to find out the origin of the sources and the accuracy of the source references and thus prevent plagiarism. More information about Turnit can be found in Lux.
Always remember to comply with copyright when using material produced/made by others as part of your own work. Below you will find links to various sites where you can get help with copyright issues.
Under the Creative Commons, or CC-licence, the author can express the ways in which they wish to distribute rights to their work. So you can either define how your material can be used further, or the license will tell you how you can use the material made by others. Creative Commons helps you legally share your knowledge and creativity to build a more equitable, accessible, and innovative world. Licenses consist of six different license types. You can read more about the CC-licenses from the link here.
Here you will find links to various places where you can find more information about the responsible use of information and tools for identifying fake news and other incorrect information.