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Many of you have probably heard of \u201csourcing heuristic,\u201d but I had not before reading an article by Dr. Pete Burkholder titled, \u201cWhy You Read Like an Expert \u2014 and Why Your Students Probably Don\u2019t.\u201d \u00a0According to Dr. Burkholder, sourcing heuristic is \u201c\u2026\u00a0determining the origin and legitimacy of a text before reading the text itself.\u201d \u00a0This skill enables readers to\u00a0determine if the text is going to support what is taught, provide current and up-to-date information, present a different perspective, and more. \u00a0The following is an example of sourcing heuristic that Dr. Burkholder completed\u00a0with his students:<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, but why should we believe this book, or even take it seriously?\u201d I asked. \u201cAre those important things to know at the outset?\u201d (Of course, they agreed.) <\/em>\u201cHow would we go about answering such questions?\u201d<\/p>\n The responses started coming, slowly at first but then in a torrent. (It\u2019s published by a well-known university press. The author is a professor at Prestigious Institution Y. There are extensive endnotes indicating where his information came from.)<\/em> \u201cOkay, now take out your smartphones.\u201d (Yippee!)<\/em> \u201cCan you find out what the author\u2019s been up to since he published this?\u201d (Quite a bit, and it all looks impressive.)<\/em> \u201cIf you Google the book\u2019s title, what do you find?\u201d (References everywhere, and the title even has its own Wikipedia page!)<\/em>\u201cHas it been reviewed a lot and in a variety of journals across disciplines?\u201d (Yes and yes.)<\/em><\/p>\n