To the editor:

Upon reading dozens of letters to the editor over the past few months, I have noticed an uptick in the use of strong, emotionally-heavy words and claims from writers on all points of the political spectrum. Harsh words and seemingly-baseless claims can spark arguments, and our society has seen enough of such arguments over the past few years. One way to reduce argument is through reference to information that can verify writers’ work. I have written a few research papers since 2018, and if there is one thing I have learned, it is that readers will not take authors seriously without proper citation and reference to viable sources.

But before we get into the citation process, it is important to ensure that one’s sources are legitimate. Who is the author? What are his/her credentials? If the information is from a news source, does it tend to lean politically right or left? If unknown, check where it falls on the political bias spectrum (AllSides and Ad Fontes Media Bias Charts are great ones!).1,2,3 Good, non-biased sources include the BBC, NPR news, the Associated Press, etc. (Just be careful these are from the news sections, not opinion sections of such outlets). Also, websites that end in “.gov,” “.edu,” or sometimes “.org” can be great places to start your search. How recent is your information? For some topics, 5 years is plenty recent, but 5 years can also be far too long — think of articles concerning the Civil War or CRISPR-Cas9 gene base editing! Pro tip: When an article or paper is labeled as peer-reviewed (such as in an academic journal), it can be trusted — it has been critiqued and scrutinized by experts in that field to ensure the credibility of the claims made in the literature.

As for the citing part, sometimes a website link or URL is enough; but if you want to get really fancy, the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue website is reliable in figuring out what information is most important to state in a formal citation so that readers can find the source on their own for further reading.4

We don’t all need to be scholars, but we do need to be well-informed — which sometimes means hours of (yes, boring) research. But by having reputable sources on our side, we shouldn’t need loaded language to get readers’ attention. Hopefully these actions can bring an end to such heated debate as seen recently in this section of The Journal. Authors, I wish you luck in your writing!

References:

1. https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

2. https://www.adfontesmedia.com/

3.https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/media-literacy/2021/should-you-trust-media-bias-charts/

4. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html

Emma Maudal

New Ulm