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You can tell a lot about a news article by noticing the sources
used in putting it together. In fact, recognizing the people
and institutions on whom the journalist relied for information
is key to critical analysis, because their viewpoints help to
shape the perspective of the news article.
While you cannot always tell where the journalist got all of
his or her background information, news articles will generally
attribute many statements of fact and most opinions to a particular
individual, organization, interest group, or document. Although
they do not provide detailed scholarly-type citations, journalists
do cite sources.
Editorials and commentaries
If you find an article that expresses opinions without providing
sources for them, you may be reading an editorial (written by
the editorial staff of the newspaper) or an opinion article/commentary
(written by a professional columnist who writes regularly or
someone writing a one-time piece).
For articles found in an electronic database or on a news website,
editorials/opinions will usually be identified immediately before
or after the text. If it is a one-time opinion piece, you can
also check to see if there is any information about the organizations
the author is affiliated with. You may then be able to find
the organization’s website and learn more about it, in
order to get some background on the perspective you are getting.
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