HASS 100 -- Nature and Human Values

The sources you use in your research will exists along a spectrum from more scholarly to more popular. The foundation of your research argument should come largely from scholarly sources. These can include (from most scholarly to least scholarly):

• peer reviewed journal articles
• theses and dissertations
• academic books
• technical reports
• long form, thoroughly researched journalism

See more details on the University of Akron's Research Guide.

The most rigorous, scholarly source you can use is a peer reviewed journal article.

Features of a journal article:

• Author and their affiliation listed - look for authors in a related field
• Based on research - look for data, tables, figures and graphs
• Written for a scholarly audience - look for technical jargon and depth
• Citations - Always look for a bibliography or links out to sources
• Reputable publisher - look for journal name and longevity.
• Peer Review - vetted prior to publication

See complete details in the Anatomy of A Scholarly Article

Test your ability to identify the differences between scholarly and popular sources. In groups of 4-5:

1. Examine both the given items

2. Look for the features of scholarly sources above and determine which is more scholarly

Be prepared to discuss your results with the class.

Team 1:

1. Analyzing the impact of Fukushima nuclear wastewater discharge on seafood trade with gravity model: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569122002782

2. NSYSU’s research found that the Kuroshio transports of the radiocesium released after the US and USSR atomic bomb tests were a thousand times higher than that now released from the Fukushima accident area: https://www.nsysu.edu.tw/p/406-1000-296583,r3244.php?Lang=en

Team 2:

1. Scientists OK plan to release one million tonnes of waste water from Fukushima: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01225-2

2. In the Wake of Fukushima: Cesium Inventories of Selected North Pacific Fish: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/76621

Team 3:

1. Chinese public opinion on Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge: A case study of Weibo comments based on a thematic model: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569122001636

2. Fukushima Radiation: https://www.whoi.edu/know-your-ocean/ocean-topics/ocean-human-lives/pollution/radiation/fukushima-radiation/

Team 4:

1. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident: Final Report of the AESJ Investigation Committee: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-4-431-55160-7

2. Treated Water Portal Site: https://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommission/progress/watertreatment/index-e.html

Team 5:

1. Japan plans to release Fukushima's wastewater into the ocean: https://www.science.org/content/article/japan-plans-release-fukushima-s-contaminated-water-ocean

2. Fukushima Radiation in U.S. West Coast Tuna: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/science-data/fukushima-radiation-us-west-coast-tuna