Assessing Sources

Part One: Using Sources

Use the sources provided to research the answers to the questions.

How did the courts evolve? (Change and Continuity)

How do the courts work? (Interrelationships)

What kind of cases are heard before these courts? (Legal Significance)

What challenges do the courts face? (Legal Perspective)

Who can be a judge in one of these courts? What factors need to be considered in the appointment of judges? (Interrelationships)

What are the perceived strengths and criticisms of each court? (Legal Perspective)

What role do individual countries, including Canada and the United States, play in these courts? (Legal Significance)

After you have viewed and read the various sources, please respond to the questions above. You may present your findings in a medium of your choice. For example: You may wish to write your answers; you may wish to create a chart or graphic organizer or you may wish to record your responses in an audio or video format.

Sources

Click each green bar to explore the source. Adjust the size of your screen to ensure the videos show in full screen mode.

The ICC in 3 Minutes

Justice Matters

International Criminal Court

The Reckoning

An introduction to the International Court of Justice

Inside the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court

The United States and the ICJ

Websites

International Court of Justice

International Criminal Court

Part Two: Evaluating Sources

Determine which of the sources were the most useful to you. Rank your top three and explain your choices.

When you evaluate a source, begin with the "easy" questions:

Did the source contain the material that you were seeking?

Was the material presented in an organized fashion?

Was the information articulated clearly?

These are quite straightforward and necessary aspects of source evaluation. Let's ask some questions that go a little deeper:

Who is the intended audience? Consider the tone, style, level of information, and assumptions the author or presenter makes about the reader or viewer? Are they appropriate for your needs?

Is the topic covered in enough depth to be helpful?

Do you think there's enough evidence offered? Is the coverage comprehensive?

Try to determine if the content of the source is fact, opinion, or propaganda. If you think the source is offering facts, are the sources for those facts clearly indicated?

How timely is the source? Is the source twenty years out of date? Some information becomes dated when new research is available, but other older sources of information can be quite sound even fifty or onehundred years later.

How credible is the author? If the document is anonymous, what do you know about the organization?

Are all points of view presented? What is missing?

Consider all of the questions above and create a list of your top three sources. At this point, ask yourself some questions that reflect upon your own personal learning styles and preferences. Include these in your evaluation. List your top three and provide an explanation of your choices. Use the questions above to guide your reflection. (100-300 words)

Tips

Please take care. Consider the statements below:

"I like this one best because that other guy was boring."

or

"I don't like this one because I had to look too hard for the answers."

These sentences send a distinct message to your reader. Do you want to send that message?

Sometimes you have to listen or read very carefully in order to find the answers and sometimes you may interpret something as "boring" when in fact it was written for a different audience. The reward for taking your time is a deeper understanding.

Consider the statements below:

"I prefer this source because the presenter was a law professor at a reputable university. I had to listen closely as the content seemed to be intended for a university level class. Though I had to listen more than once to the material, it contained significant depth. It was organized, using subheadings and questions which helped me to find the answers I was seeking."