Evaluation of Scholarly Articles

Franks, Carol. "Organ Transplant Wait list." 10/18/2012 via flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic. 

In the previous blog I discussed two sources that had to do with Facebook getting involved in finding organ donors and the debate of its ethicality and the extent to which it should go. Now, I will be evaluating scholarly sources, "Facebook as a medium of promoting Statement of Intent for Organ Donation: 5 years of Experience" and "The Side Effects of the 'Facebook Effect':challenging Facebook's 'organ donor' application", on their purposes, author qualifications, sources, when and where they were published, the intended audiences, and its availabilities.

Article 1:  "Facebook as a medium of promoting Statement of Intent for Organ Donation: 5 years of Experience"

http://apps.webofknowledge.com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/full_record.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=1&SID=4E88p2KCozJWaprQQIi&page=1&doc=1

• So, what is the article's purpose?

The purpose of the article is to show the effects that Facebook has had on the number of organ donors and how it has supposedly help save more lives with the process. This author is writing for the Dawca pl Club- a Polish group that is trying to raise awareness for the need of organ donors. 

This post is not only telling the benefits of creating awareness for the necessity of organ donors but is promoting the club. The author thinks the two ideas are interconnected. 

• How and where is it published?

Michal Brzezinski is the author of the article. The publisher is Int. Scientific Literature, Inc. and it was published on March 12, 2015. It is  review paper, most likely about the club it is discussing in the article. It does not allow you to see the full journal online, but you can request to see the information. The journal that it was published in is Annals of Transplantation. 

• What kind of sources does it cite?

This article has 15 sources cited. One of these is an article named "Social Media and Organ Donor Registration:The Facebook Effect." Which is also published in a journal. They are all informational articles so that the text has information to back up their claims. There is a list of all the sources that the article used.  

• Who is the author?

The author, Michal Brzezinski, is an assistant professor of Economics at the University of Warsaw. His site explains his further qualifications and promotes him as a reliable source in his field of expertise. 

• Who is the intended audience?

The intended audience is the educated viewer who is generally aware of the issue at hand with too few of organ donors. He explains the crisis and why Facebook's actions are so beneficial. He is promoting people to sign up to be an organ donor as well as telling others about the great need of them.

• How did I find this?

I searched "Facebook and Organ Donor" in the search bar in the Web of Science search engine. This came up with many different options as to articles on the topic since this is an important evolution in our medical practices. I ultimately picked two sources that had contradicting arguments. It is always more interesting to know both sides of an argument before making an opinion on the debate. 

Now, moving on to the second article. This one was titled, "The Side Effects of the 'Facebook Effect':challenging Facebook's 'organ donor' application" which goes against the point the first article was making about Facebook being a beneficial source of new organ donors. 

• What is the article's purpose?

The article seems to be a bit more informative than the first one. The author doesn't seem to have as much of a vested interest in the topic as the first author did by being a part of a club that specializes in raising awareness for the need of organ donors. 

• How and where is it published?

This was published in the Journal of Clinical Ethics Volume 25. It was completed on May 30, 2014. This was written by Adam M. Pena. There does not appear to be a publisher listed but this is a journal article. 

• What kind of sources does it cite?

On the Web of Science Engineering site, it did not give a list of referenced sources, but I am assuming that this site has sources because it is an article in a journal with credible information since it came up on the Web of Science Engineering site. 

• Who is the author?

The author is Adam M. Pena, a medical assistant at the Baylor University of Medicine. His professional interests include clinical ethics consultation, empathy, and bioethics and law. The controversy about Facebook as a means of finding organ donors is definitely in the category of ethics consultation. 

• Who is the attended audience?

The intended audience would be medical students and doctors. These are people who need to be aware of current events taking place in their field and how it applies to their own actions and ideals.

• How did I find this?

I searched Facebook and Organ Donor  on the Web of Science Engineering site. This was one of the first articles to come up and the title jumped out at me. I thought it would be a good opposition to the first article, which was promoting the use of Facebook to find organ donors. This author recognized the benefits to the interaction, but was not afraid to mention the downfalls of the system.