Evaluation of General Sources

One topic that came up over and over during my exploration of online sources was the issue of medical residents' job regulations. Many sources believe residents are underpaid and overworked.

Hours of research have me feeling a little like

Gellinger, Gerhard. "Tiger". 12/24/12 via pixabay. CC0 Public Domain.

But I've finally found a topic!

I was touched by the story of Katie, who had to take a leave from her residency due to pregnancy issues from the stress of her job.

I researched the topic further online and am now going to use rhetorical analysis to exmaine the credibility of two online sources.

"Here's the Real Reason Medical Residents make just $47,000 a year" found here.

• URL
•  The first word is "blog", so this website is a blog set out from the business section of the Wall Street Journal
• This indicates the source is credible for the most part
• Author
• Angela Chen
• Reporter for WSJ, takes an interest in technology and health
• Email, phone number, and twitter is provided
• Last Updated
• Article is from March 2015
• Links are still working, website is updated
• Purpose
•  To provide an economical explanation to why medical residents are being paid $47,000 a year, which many people agree is not ideal.
• Main argument is that the supply and demand chain is loopy.
• Graphics
•  There is a picture of a surgeon, used as part of blogging conventions.
• There are also links to other posts and sources.
• Position on Subject
• The author seems rather neutral. She is not a medical doctor, which helps eliminate bias. She studies economics so her main purpose is to explain the issue from an economical perspective.
• Links
• There are links to other posts, but they are not entirely related to the issue of medical residents. 

"The Residents Rise Up" found here.

• URL 
• The article is branched off of Slate Magazine, which is a .com site.
• It focuses on technology, politics, business, and is mostly credible.
• Author
• Jacob Sunshine
• President of the University of Washington Housestaff Association
• the association comments on job contracts
• Second year resident
• Studying anesthesiology
• Twitter account provided 
• Last Updated
• Article is from May 2014
• Website is updated, links working
• Purpose
•  To inform the audience of how residents feel towards their wages and contracts. He explains how the process works and why some suggestions will not solve anything. Mostly, he wants to make sure residents' voices are still heard.
• Graphics
• One picture at the beginning of the post 
• Links with pictures to other stories on the side
• Position on Subject
• He is a resident himself, so there may be some bias in his writing and claims.
• However, the details of his experiences offer unique insight to readers.
• Links 
• There are hyperlinks embedded in the text that lead to other sources where he got initial information for his writing.

I think I will keep these two online resources for my research project! I am aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each, so I will use them adequately.

Let's just say I'm feeling a little bit more like this now
 

Louie, Kenny. "A stray kitten". 2/21/09 via wikipedia. Attribution 2.0 Generic.

 What are your thoughts on using this type of rhetorical analysis to evaluate the credibility of sources?