online source 2

“Specific Page Title or Article Title”	"How Does Pollution Affect all Living Things"
Primary Contributor to the Website (if given) (author, editor, producer, etc)	Bethany Wieman
Title of the Entire Website (not www. )	National Geographic Student Expeditions
Publisher or Sponsoring Organization of the website (if given)	National Geographic
Date Page was Last Revised	N/A
Date You Read It	February 3, 2012
<URL address> (ALL of it)	http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/pollution-affect-living-things-including-humans-2193.html

FIVE FACTS FROM THE SOURCE (Embedded):

Wieman states that "contaminants can have dire effects on entire ecosystems, making life more difficult for humans, plants and animals," bringing to attention the fact that pollution is not only affecting the ecosystem, but also humans.

The article describes the chain effect of contaminants by stating "Some toxins, like mercury, settle onto plants and into water sources that are then consumed by animals. The health effects of these poisons are then magnified up the food chain," describing how toxins that affect animals will affect everything all the way up to humans.

While talking about pollutions effect on water systems, she says that water "is easily contaminated by agricultural runoff, mining activities, waste treatment plants and improperly disposed-of industrial waste," which provides examples of the most common ways that freshwater ecosystems are damaged.

The article goes on to describe how litter affects the environment by saying "Street litter washes into storm drains, into our waterways and ultimately ends up in the ocean," and describes how ocean animals die because of litter in their habitats.

Furthermore, Wieman provides evidence of pollution in plants by saying, "Plants grown in contaminated soil take up the hazardous substances through their roots. Humans or animals that ingest these plants may get sick," describing the negative effects of polluted soil.

Summary of Source (Three-Four Sentences of the Who, What, Where, Why, and How in your own words. NO OPINION):

Wieman explains the different kinda of pollution that society creates in the environment. She describes the effect that each kind of polution has and gives a description of each kind. She states where the pollution usually comes from and cites sources to back up her claims.

Credibility of Source:
Author or Site: Who is the author? What training have they had? If there is no author, examine the site. What is the purpose of the site? Who funds the site?

Wieman is a writer for the media. She is experienced at providing facts without personal opinion.

Attachment: Does the author or site have anything to gain from writing this, or is it simply informative? For example, is it a cigarette business posting an article about the benefit of cigarettes, or is it a scientific community unaffiliated with the cigarette business?

The author does not seem to have anything to gain from writing this, it seems to be very factualy and does not provide any personal gain to the author.

Bias: Do you detect a bias (a favoring of either side) in the author's writing?

There is no bias, the author provides factualy information and does not talk from an opinionated standpoint.

References: Does the author cite references in the writing? If so, do these add or take away from the credibility?


The author cites 6 different sources to back up her claims ranging from the EPA to the American Journal of Epidemiology.


Use of Source: How will you use this source in your project?

I plan on using this source to distinguish the different causes and effects from different sources of pollution and what each does to the ecosystem.