Geometry

Vetting Sources
Research Question: What are some of the real world applications of geometric
transformations?
In the process of better understanding mathematics and how it helps to create meaning
in our personal lives, we have to seek out information. Therefore, it is important for us
to know when we have found true knowledge, and when we have found internet
garbage. Mathematics, maybe more so than any other discipline, is susceptible to
misrepresentation in books and on the internet.
Furthermore, in order to truly be educated consumers of information, we must
continually and effectively analyze and assess source documents provided to and by
us.
Practice following the steps below to develop your skills as a savvy consumer of
information.
Step 1:
Preliminary Research:
a. Look for key words, phrases, names, dates, ideas, concepts et cetera. At this
point you can do a basic Google or Wikipedia search

Step 2:
Take the information you gained from your preliminary research, and now investigate it in the
academic realm or on reputable websites.
a. Peer-reviewed academic databases
jstor.org
ebscohost
id:
password:
www.scholar.google.com
b. Published books
Go to the library!
Books.google.com

c. Newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.

***URLs can provide clues to authorship:

.comcompany
.eduacademic institution
.govgovernment agency
.milUS military site
.netnetwork of computers
.orgnon-profit organization
State supported sites (.IN.US)
Country-Specific Sites (.UK; .AU)
Personal Web pages
Step 3:
Complete the following questionnaire for two different sources. Then, synthesize your answers
into an overall evaluation of the source.
Source Number 1
Title:TRANSFORMATIONS
Author(s): Unspecified
Website/url: http://www.mathsaccelerator.com/geometry/transformations
What is the purpose of the webpage or book? informing the readers about real -world
geometric transformations.
What do you know about the author(s)? Their backgrounds? Expertise? Motivations? Other
published works? Contact information? Affiliations? Nothing specified
How does the information on this site (in the book) compare to what you already know? Does
it seem credible? Are there sources cited? Is the information presented verifiable?I actually
learned a lot from the website because I didnt realize that some things we see everyday are
geometric transformations. The information seems credible because when you look at what
they say about what transformations of the real-world is, it makes a lot of sense. The website
had no cited sources , but if can be verified by using other sources to help prove that what
they say is true.
What was the last time this site was updated? Is the information current? How old is the
book? The site was last updated some time in 2016, which makes the information very
current. The original information was submitted in 2012, so the article is about 4 years old.
Is it easy or difficult to navigate the website (or book)? Is the article (or book) well-written? Is
it a reputable website (or book)? The website was very easy to navigate because it was the

first item that shows up when you search up real world applications of geometric
transformations. I was well written because they made the website short and to the point, so
we got the point they were trying to make, but we werent bored out of our minds.

Write 3 - 5 sentences of overall evaluation about this source: The source was a very good
source to use to help my understanding of how transformations are relevant in our daily lives.
It didnt have very many words, but instead it had pictures to help prove that these were
transformations in daily life. It was hard to tell if the source was very credible because it had
no author and wasnt a very well-renowned website. Even though this was present, it only
took common sense to see if the source was very credible, which it was.
Source Number 2
Title: Listening to Geometry
Author(s): Brett D. Cooper and Rita Barger
Website/url: https://alexbradley02.wikispaces.com/file/view/Listening+to+Geometry.pdf
What is the purpose of the webpage or book? To explain to the readers about the real-world
connections to Geometric transformations in music.
What do you know about the author(s)? Their backgrounds? Expertise? Motivations? Other
published works? Contact information? Affiliations? The authors are part of The National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc, so I can assume that they are math teachers.
How does the information on this site (in the book) compare to what you already know? Does
it seem credible? Are there sources cited? Is the information presented verifiable? I actually
learned a lot because I never believed that music can have any relation to math. The
information does seem credible because these authors have a knowledge of math if the are
part of The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc.
What was the last time this site was updated? Is the information current? How old is the
book? The last time this was updated was in September of 2009, when it was published, so it
isnt exactly current information, but it is information that could still be used.
Is it easy or difficult to navigate the website (or book)? Is the article (or book) well-written? Is
it a reputable website (or book)? It was a little hard to navigate the website because i had to
surf through many pages of google to find the website. The article was very well written
because it used very good syntax to help convey its main message of how transformations
are very relevant in music.

Write 3 - 5 sentences of overall evaluation about this source: I say this was a very good
source because I could actually learn a lot from the source. The ideas actually made sense if

you process the information at hand. I also had some relation to it because I played piano
when I was very little, so now I have an aha moment of how my ninth grade math had a
correlation to my seven year old music lessons. The source seemed to know what it was
saying, and it wasnt too long to where I got bored of reading. I rate this very highly because
of all the reasons and because of how it brought connections of what we learned in class, so
we know at least most of it is credible.