Purpose: The reason the information exists.
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The purpose is to disprove the notion that the MMR vaccine is causing Autism in children. This
purpose was made clear from the beginning that the author was planning to inform the readers that
this was a biologically implausible conclusion
Seeing that every claim made was backed by data, statistics, credible studies, and cited evidence the
point of view appears to be objective.
There is ideological bias, the belief that vaccines are giving people autism has been widely debated
between those who oppose and those who believe since the creation of vaccinations. The author
taking a medical stance to debunk the idea shows bias because they are aware of the biological
implausibility.
Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, correctness of the content.
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Most of the information seems to be coming from medical and scientific studies around the
world.
The information is supported by an extensive amount of evidence, each claim made is not
simply stated but rather backed with the findings from studies and experiments that collected
data.
The information has been peer reviewed and is available in a variety of scholarly data bases.
The information can be verified in another source of scholarly writing, most of this would not be
common knowledge to the average person, but since the information can be verified using
outside sources that were not used in this article it can be said to be accurate.
The language does not seem to be bias or emotional as much as it takes a stance on scientific
research proving the implausibility of the claim that the MMR vaccine was causing autism.
There were no spelling, grammar, or typographical errors that can be seen by simply reading
through the text. I’m sure if the time was taken to revise then there may be a few.
Authority: The source of the information
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There are two authors, one is Jeffery S. Gerber, the second is Paul A. Offit.
Jeffery Gerber is a physician in the division of infectious diseases at the children’s hospital of
Philadelphia and Paul A. Offit is a director of the vaccine education center and a professor of
pediatrics in the same division as Jeffery.
Both authors are highly qualified to write on this topic seeing that both are medical
professionals that specialize in pediatrics and vaccinations.
Both are contactable through email and office phone number which can easily be found through
their organization’s website.
Yes, the URL for the source is .gov which means that it is restricted for government use and their
contact information and biographies are .edu which means that they are labelled under an
educational institution. Both add credibility to their work and themselves.
Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs
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The information isn’t useful for my topic, although part of my research is based around health,
vaccines are not one of my focuses.
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Yes, the information is easy to read but also inciteful, its not overly simplify or overly
complicated.
I would have decided not to use this source but would I have reviewed a significant number of
sources before making that decision. If this source was relevant to my topic, I would choose to
use it but would look at other sources before coming to a final decision.
I would feel comfortable citing this paper if it was relevant to my topic because it is credible,
peer reviewed, and doesn’t present any bias as much as it presents facts and claims with
evidence.
Currency: The timelessness of the information
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This information was published February 15 of 2009.
Yes, the information was updated in 2010 by The National Center for Biotechnology
Information.
My topic requires both current and older information because it is focused on an economic and
health issue that has been around for decades, however, many places that were once affected
may have now found a solution so current information is necessary.
I was unable to determine if the links are directly functional from the article, but they can be
found through a quick google search.