Purpose:  To get different views on why the south Seceded.  Views that I can either rebut or use

Relevance:  This article is pretty relevant to my topic seeing that it is about secession and the civil war.

Level of Specialization an audience: It is a pretty general source.  It is something I would use to give a basic overview of civil war history or some of the different beliefs about the topic.

Credentials of publisher:  It is published on a .org website, which means it is a nonprofit, so this could be an indicator of credibility because they are not trying to sell you something nor do they have a money making agenda.

Credentials of the author:  This I could not find.  I googled his name but I found many people who had the same name as him, and I don’t think any of them where the right one.

Date of Publication: Could not find the date of publication, however with this particular topic, seeing that it is a historical one, the date does not really matter unless it was written before the civil war.

Accuracy of the source: It seems to be accurate, but also very biased.

Stance of source:  This source definitely thinks that the civil war was fought because the southerners wanted to have slaves.

Cross references to the source:  I did a link check for it to see if any edu websites referenced it.  I only found one and it was some wacky website about meditation.  However, it was pretty high up in the list of my initial search.  Which means that it has been referenced a good bit by other websites even if not by edu websites.

There are a lot things you need to keep in mind when you are choosing sources for an argumentative essay.  The sources you choose as a writer will ultimately go to your credibility as a writer, and when you are writing an argument in particular, the opposing side is always looking for ways to discredit you.  Not only does your argument have be bullet proof, but your sources do too.

The first thing that you must consider when choosing a source is the credibility of the source itself.  Is it from a reputable website or book?  Is it known as being biased towards one way or the other?  You also have to think about how relevant the source is to what you are talking about.  Is it recent enough to be applicable?  Does what it is saying go to help you prove your thesis?  If your source meets these simple standards then it is likely that it is a good source for you to use.  Your choice of sources can be the make or break of your paper.  With reputable sources as the concrete foundation of your paper, you are off to a good start.