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The source of scientific information I have chosen is a study on the abundance of marsh birds that inhabit the marshlands of the Great Lakes. This scientific paper is an important source of information that I can use as part of my research project as my study site is within a marsh that is connected to Lake Ontario. The paper was accessed from: https://longpointbiosphere.com/download/Birds/Timmermans-Badzinski-Ingram-2008-Marshbirds-GL-Hydrology.pdf
This is an academic peer-reviewed, research paper. The paper was written by experts in the field of both ecology and hydrology. It has a methods, analysis, and results section, with in-text citations and an extensive bibliography. As well, the paper cites two reviewers in the acknowledgment section.
I determined this using two reference materials. The tutorial link, How to Evaluate Sources of Scientific Information in Module One of this course has a flow chart that goes through steps of how to determine the four different categories of information sources. This paper falls in the category of an academic peer-reviewed, research paper by following the criteria through the flow chart. I also referred to the Module One reading of A beginner’s guide to reviewing manuscripts in ecology and conservation (Lepczyk and Donnelly, 2011). This paper provides a more thorough discussion on how to review scientific information sources. Within this paper, there is a figure (Box 1) that provides a quick reference guide for reviewing an information source. Based on this guide, I determined that it was an academic peer-reviewed, research paper as most of the criteria could be answered with a ‘yes’.
References
Lepczyk, C. A. & Donnelly, R. E. (2011). A beginner’s guide to reviewing manuscripts in ecology and conservation. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution, (4) 25-31. doi: 10.4033/iee.2011.4.4.c. CC BY 3.0
Timmermans, S.T.A., Badzinski, S.S., Ingram, J.W. 2008. Associations between Breeding Marsh Bird Abundances and Great Lakes Hydrology. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 34:351-364. Accessed from: https://longpointbiosphere.com/download/Birds/Timmermans-Badzinski-Ingram-2008-Marshbirds-GL-Hydrology.pdf
