Source #1 (eBook)

Bargsten, Clayton J., and Malcolm T. Gibson. NASA Innovation in Aeronautics : Select
Technologies That Have Shaped Modern Aviation. National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, NASA Headquarters, Aug. 2011. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com
/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat06945a&AN=emp.b1780707&site=eds-live.
1. Relevancy: This book is about NASA’s innovations that have shaped aeronautics. This
relates back to my topic of the innovations that have come from space travel and the
experiments that NASA performs. This source can be used to demonstrate some of the
many technologies that NASA has produced.
2. Accuracy: This book was written by a couple of people from the NASA headquarters in
Washington DC. This information is coming straight from NASA, which is a government
program, so it can be assumed that this was heavily reviewed by multiple people that
work for NASA to ensure that it is accurate.
3. Currency: This was written in August of 2011. It was written less than 10 years ago, so
the information is still most likely accurate. Although new innovations and discoveries
have been made since this was published, the information about the innovations made at
the time are relevant.
4. Authority: Bargsten and Gibson both work at the NASA headquarters and Washington
DC. NASA is known for their innovations in aeronautics and has worked with many
companies to improve air travel.
5. Purpose: The purpose was to inform of how NASA’s innovations has impacted
aeronautics and how they have worked to make air travel more efficient. The chapter
discusses the concerns behind noisy aircrafts and the expanding air travel industry. It
doesn’t present multiple viewpoints, but that could be because it is very factual.
6. Rating: I would give this source a 5 out of 5. This relates directly to my topic of the
innovations of NASA. Because it comes straight from NASA authorities, it is a primary
source. This provides reliable information on important innovations that have come from
space travel.

Source #2 (Scholarly article)

"Lunar Branding It's not just astronauts using NASA innovations." New York Post [New York,
NY], 9 July 2019, p. 019. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com
/apps/doc/A592677585/OVIC?u=empsu_main&sid=OVIC&xid=179d8fb7. Accessed 3
Oct. 2019.
1. Relevancy: This article discusses different innovations that have everyday uses that have
come about as a result of missions to space. This relates back to my topic because it talks
about several innovations that people use everyday. It gives different examples on how
NASA impacts everyone’s daily life.
 2. Accuracy: This is a pretty accurate piece of information because it’s reviewed to make
sure the information is accurate. New York Post is a newspaper, is constantly updated and
reviewed to make sure they have the most accurate and relevant information.
3. Currency: This article was published just a few months ago. Although it covers a lot of
information from several decades ago, there are constantly new innovations
4. Authority: This source doesn’t provide the name of the person it was written by, but we
do know that it was published by the New York Post. Because the New York Post is a
newspaper, it can be assumed that the person who wrote the article did a lot of research
on the topic and that the article itself was reviewed to ensure that the information is
accurate.
5. Purpose: The purpose is to inform New York Post readers about different ways that
NASA has impacted our daily lives. It works to make people more aware of what NASA
has accomplished and how they have worked with different companies to create new
technologies that people use everyday.
6. Rating: I would give this article a 4 out of 5. This doesn’t provide a lot of information,
but it does give a good starting point for research. It gives the basic idea of a few
everyday things that NASA’s discoveries and innovation have helped create.

Source #3 (Scholarly article)

Beardsley, Tim. “Science in the Sky.” Scientific American, vol. 274, no. 6, 1996, pp. 64–70.
JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24989570.
1. Relevancy: This article is about the international space station and why some people were
against it while it was still being built. The author discusses how much NASA and the
federal government expected to spend on it and what contributions they expected from
other countries. This article is relevant to my topic of space exploration.
2. Accuracy: I do not see any errors in the writing, as this article is probably heavily peer
reviewed and edited. There is some bias in the language that is against the international
space station. Overall, the information presented appears to be very accurate and well-
researched.
3. Currency: This article was published in June 1996. The international space station was
launched in 1998, so no information about reports or experiments performed were
available to include in the article. The information is probably too outdated for my uses.
4. Authority: Tim Beardsley is a staff writer for the Scientific American, a monthly
scientific magazine. The Scientific American is a very well respected magazine that has
received several awards. Beardsley has also written many other articles for the magazine.
5. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to argue against the building of the international
space station. The author argues that the space station would be too big and costly and
that there was too much risk in relying on other countries to help complete the project. He
also talks about what bad things could potentially come from finishing the project, along
with several other pros and cons.
 6. Rating: I would give this source a 3 out of 5. It does provide good information and offers
an interesting viewpoint that differs from my own. Although it could have been a reliable
source, it is too outdated for it to be useful for my project.

Source #4 (Social Media)

@NASA. “We know the size, shape and rotation rate of Earth because of a field of science
known as geodesy. Geodesy lets us use GPS, plan rocket launches and measure tides.
Today we're improving these measurements down to the millimeter. Check it out:
https://go.nasa.gov/2nZwi46.” Twitter, 2 Oct. 2019, 6:00 p.m.,
https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1179531534048661513.
1. Relevancy: This twitter post is useful to help understand different processes and sciences
that make space exploration possible. This also contains information on how NASA’s
research has impacted our daily lives and knowledge. This relates to my topic about the
important innovations and experiments of NASA.
2. Accuracy: It can be assumed that this tweet contains pretty accurate information.
Although it is a tweet and they aren’t always reviewed for accuracy, this one is coming
from someone who works for NASA. They aren’t any typos and there doesn’t appear to
be any bias.
3. Currency: Because this is a tweet, it’s extremely current information. Twitter is one of the
most current sources of information because it’s social media and people are constantly
posting, and NASA is no exception to this rule. This tweet in particular was posted only a
few days ago.
4. Authority: This tweet is on NASA’s official twitter page. This is a primary source
because it is directly from America’s federal space organization.
5. Purpose: The purpose of this tweet is to inform the account’s followers about geodesy, a
field of science. The author of the tweet briefly overviews the field of science and how
NASA uses it and how they are using it to improve. The article also contains and external
link that can be used to find more information on the topic.
6. Rating: I would rate this source a 4 out of 5. The tweet itself provides only very basic
information on the topic it’s presenting because there’s only a limited amount of
characters it can use. It does, however, provide a link that I can use to find more
information.

Source #5 (Website)
“20 Things We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel.” Jet Propulsion Laboratory , NASA,
www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=11358.
1. Relevancy: This website provides an infographic on different everyday things that
wouldn’t have been possible without NASA and space travel. My topic is what important
innovations have come about as a result of NASA’s missions and experiments. I am able
to relate this back to my topic.
 2. Accuracy: Because this website is NASA-sponsored, it can be assumed that the
information is accurate. There doesn’t appear to be any typos or grammatical errors.
There also isn’t any bias present in the infographic. It just provides some basic facts.
3. Currency: This source doesn’t provide a date when it was published. It does seem like it
was pretty current. It was most likely published in at least the last 5 years.
4. Authority: There is no known author of the source. The only information provided about
the author is a username made by the person who posted the infographic. Although, this
website is sponsored by NASA and does give other relevant information if I dug deeper
into the website.
5. Purpose: The purpose of this page is to inform the readers of different everyday objects
that have come as a result of NASA’s innovations. This source is very factual and gives
mostly basic information in a fun and colorful format. The author didn’t provide any
outside opinions or try to argue anything.
6. Rating: I would give this source a 3 out of 5. This source only provides very basic
information. Although it does give a good starting point for further research on the topic.

Source #6 (Website)
“What Is Artemis?” Edited by Brian Dunbar, NASA, 25 July. 2019, www.nasa.gov/what-is-arte
mis.
1. Relevancy: This article is very relevant to my topic. This is a great example of future
innovations and missions that we can expect to see from NASA. This also helps me get
an idea of more questions that I may have and what I would like to find about about this
program.
2. Accuracy: There doesn’t appear to be any errors or misinformation. Since this is coming
straight from NASA, it can be assumed that they wouldn’t present any false information
about their own program. This is mostly just facts and goals that the program has, so
there really isn’t much bias.
3. Currency: This article was posted on July 25, 2019, and has been updated in the last
month. This information is very current and seems reliable. It is also likely that they will
continue to update the site as new information and discoveries are found.
4. Authority: This was written by people who work for NASA and contains an interview
with a NASA astronaut. NASA has gone into space more than most organizations in the
world and performs many experiments. They are also the people who are running the
Artemis program and have run other missions to the moon before, like the Apollo
program that landed the first man on the Moon.
5. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to inform readers about the upcoming Artemis
missions to get to the Moon and eventually Mars. It gives a broken timeline and the
bigger goals of the Artemis program. The author of the article seems hopeful that NASA
will be able to accomplish their goals in the timeframe they’ve given. The article also
includes a video of a Q&A with a NASA astronaut.
6. Rating: I would give this source a 5 out of 5. It seems to be very reliable and contain
relevant and accurate information. This website also contains more pages and links for
me to find more information on past, future, and current missions, experiments, and
programs.