Journal 1
Atkins-Sayre, Wendy (2010). “Articulating Identity: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Animal/Human Divide.” Western Journal of Communication 74(3): 309-328. Print. |
Title and brief description (How relevant?)
The article “Articulating Identity: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Animal/Human Divide” is relevant the study of why I would discourage people from donating their time and money to PETA. In fact, this publication shows how the organization uses television advertisements and other media to describe factory farming. |
Date (How current?)
The article was published on May 2010. |
Name of periodical (How scholarly?)
The fact that the article has been published in the Western Journal of Communication is a clear indication of research study’s credibility. |
Length (How extensive in coverage?)
The article is broad and extensive in coverage and comprised of 19 pages. |
Does the author or publisher have political leanings or religious views that could affect objectivity?
Artkins-Sayre, the author of this article does not use any religious or political biases, therefore indicating the fairness and neutrality of the research study. |
Is the author or publisher associated with a special-interest group that might see only one side of an issue? The author is not a member of a special group; therefore, he discusses all sides of the issue related to animal/human divide objectively. |
Are alternative views presented and addressed? How fairly does the author treat opposing views?
In this article, alternative opinions are not only presented, but addressed. In addition, opposing opinions are fairly dealt with. For instance, in the introduction the author points out both the public views as well as those of the organization. |
Does the author’s language show signs of bias?
The author does not show signs of bias as all arguments deal with both similar and opposing views fairly. |
What is the author’s central claim or thesis?
PETA’s advertisement and campaigns create the opportunities where the nonprofit organizations distort the distinction amid animals and humans, thus causing humans reconsider their identities and consequently their views of the animal rights. |
How does the author support this claim — with relevant and sufficient evidence or with just a few anecdotes or emotional examples?
In this article, the author uses sufficient evidence to support his claims. Especially, the author provides several examples when the PETA’s behavior is not typical to non-profit organization fighting for animal rights. |
Are statistics consistent with those you encounter in other sources? Have they been used fairly? Does the author explain where the statistics come from? (It is possible to “lie” with statistics by using them selectively or by omitting mathematical details.)
Despite the fact that this article does not use statistics in its analysis, it systematically reviews other studies that form the basis of the findings. |
Are any of the author’s assumptions questionable?
In my opinion, the author does not apply any assumptions that might raise questions to the outcomes of the study. |
Journal 2
Linda, Marie Fedigan. (2010). “Ethical Issues Faced by Field Primatologists: Asking the Relevant questions.” American Journal of Primatology: 754-771. Print. |
Title and brief description (How relevant?)
In fact, the discussion is relevant to the study that is based on my argument on why I would not advise people to donate their time and money to PETA. In particular, the article “Ethical Issues Faced by Field Primatologists: Asking the Relevant Questions” raises the questions connected with ethical peculiarities of charity organizations. |
Date (How current?)
The journal was published on October 2010. |
Name of periodical (How scholarly?)
The article was published in issue 71 of the American Journal of Primatology, which demonstrated the credibility of a conducted research, |
Length (How extensive in coverage?)
It is extensive in coverage and has a total of 18 pages. |
Does the author or publisher have political leanings or religious views that could affect objectivity?
The author of this article does not have religious or political biases that might not affect the objectivity of delivering the findings. |
Is the author or publisher associated with a special-interest group that might see only one side of an issue?
True to say is that the author of this publication is associated with a special interest group, which operates in the field of primatologists. As such, his connection with an interested stakeholder might have led to the analysis of one side of the issue. |
Are alternative views presented and addressed? How fairly does the author treat opposing views?
Alternative views are presented in this research study. However, the manner in which they are dealt with is relatively impartial. |
Does the author’s language show signs of bias?
Preconception has been shown in this article. For instance, the author believes that the activities of primatologists should not be evaluated by ethic committee, they should be assessed by the animal care committee. In fact, the findings of this evaluation are biased and subjective. In addition, he believes that they should have studied the people as opposed to animals. |
What is the author’s central claim or thesis?
The author fundamental claim is that the dynamics of ethics in the field of primatologists are strange and unusual compared to other research fields. |
How does the author support this claim — with relevant and sufficient evidence or with just a few anecdotes or emotional examples?
The author supports the claims with relevant and sufficient information from various studies and interviews. |
Are statistics consistent with those you encounter in other sources? Have they been used fairly? Does the author explain where the statistics come from? (It is possible to “lie” with statistics by using them selectively or by omitting mathematical details.)
The author briefly explains where his statistics are derived from and uses the data in a fair manner. Therefore, there is no degree of the statistics distortion. |
Are any of the author’s assumptions questionable?
Yes, for instance, the assumption that primatologists should study the behavior of people rather than the animals needs to be scrutinized and reconsidered. |