The document summarizes the author's research on several articles about whether student athletes should be considered employees. The author found articles both supporting and opposing the idea, with some credible due to being peer-reviewed or written by experts in their field. However, others were less credible since they did not provide much background on the authors or had clear biases. In conclusion, the author determined that the more information available about an author, like their education and potential biases, the easier it is to assess the credibility of what they write.

1. Research Paper 1 Jenkins
Sylvia Jenkins
Prof. Blanco
FYS
September 17th, 2014
Student Athletes
The authors main argument in the Newsday article is saying that the National La-bor
Relations wants their football players to be employees of the school. Also that the
NCAA rakes in billions of dollars but the athletes compensation is a scholarship to the
school they attend and also that this would work best for football and men’s basketball
because they have all the enterprise revenue coming in but none is going to the players
who are bringing in all of the business. I wasn’t able to find a lot of information on the
author Michael Dobie but, he is a member of Newsday editorial board which is credible
because not everyone can be on the editorial board.
On CQ Researcher I found another article that has an overview of the same
claims as in the Newsday article that Northwestern University football players are want-ing
to be employees of the school. All of this is very credible because CQ Researcher is
counted as scholarly. Author Reed Karaim is a freelance writer and journalist who lives
in Tuscon and frequently writes about social welfare issues. He is also the author of If
Men were Angels. Karaim has been published in various papers and magazines such
as World Report, U.S News, and Washington Post. The place where I found that infor-mation
is npr which I believe is a credible source because it is very well known. Karaim
doesn’t seem to have a side that he has chosen in his article it is a very detailed over-view
that shows both side of what is happening with college athletics unlike in the

2. Research Paper 2 Jenkins
Newsday article where they talk about the billions that the students should get but aren’t
getting. The Karaim article is just written to inform you of the situation at hand not to
persuade or prove something but to just show the big picture of what is happening with
student athletes. Like in the Newsday article it focuses in on the fact that this should be
happening to football and men’s basketball not necessarily any other sport. This article
makes the same claims as the Newsday showing that what is said in Newsday is relia-ble,
but it also contrast by showing the other view that the students don’t need to be
paid.
I found another article that also talks about Northwestern University and the fact
that the football players are “unionizing to bring attentions to athletes brain trauma risks,
sports related medical expenses, scholarships, and academic success” (Domonell pg.
12). I found this interesting because neither of the other two articles mentioned anything
about how they what to unionize for other things besides wanting money along with
scholarships. I did some research on the author Kristen Domonell and she works for
University Business and is a graduate of Marista college. Although she states other
claims besides the ones that Newsday also does it is hard to believe that she is credible
enough to do that because I couldn’t find a lot of back ground information on her. Also
this article has not been peer reviewed so those other claims could not be the truth.
Overall it is saying unlike in the other two articles that say they just want to be paid, this
one is saying that they are also worried about their well being. I think this could be a lit-tle
bias especially if Domonell is for the athletes being paid because than anyone who
would read this article could possibly be swayed because they think the players have

3. Research Paper 3 Jenkins
other intentions besides money. It is hard to tell whether the claims she is making are
trustworthy because of the small amount of info I could find on her.
I researched and found another article about this hot topic by author Rohith Par-asuraman
this one is very credible due to the fact that it is a Duke law journal and has
been peer reviewed. This journal argues that they should not let the athletes unionize
but should let someone else decide and they mentioned that congress could do that.
What the author is saying in this is the total opposite of what is happening in the News-day
article. Newsday talks about how the players are losing the money that they are
bringing in yet this journal says that it shouldn't be up to anybody but congress to decide
whether these college athletes should be called employees of the school. I find both of
these articles very biased on two different ends of the spectrum which gives good in-sight
since they are so different. The author of this Law journal is obviously very credible
because you have to have years of experience to be able to do that. I found a lot of in-formation
about him which is good because that means he has experience and it told
me where all he has studied at which lets me know he is well educated and has proba-bly
researched and studied this news surrounding student athletes.
Using Academic Search Premier I found an article by the author Alexander Wolff
now this has to do with the same topic as the rest that these that student athletes are
wanting to get paid. This magazine article is from 1994 making it not as relevant but yet
it still has some pull because it is showing that this is a long running problem of students
wanting to get money for playing for the college. It talks about the same stuff that News-day
does about how the revenue coming in is from the players but yet they aren’t get-ting
any of the money. These two articles may be years apart but yet they still bring up

4. Research Paper 4 Jenkins
the same issue about student athletes. The author of this article writes for Sports Illus-trated
which means he was probably well versed on the subject at the time. Wolff has
been on the SI staff since 1980 and began as a researcher so he obviously knows how
to research something well. Also he is very involved in sports so he knows a lot of what
goes on and tries to keep the reader up to date with an un-bias opinion. The website I
found his information on is credible because it is Sports Illustrated where he has been
working and I doubt they would put up false information about him. Even if this article is
older I still think it gives great insight into the fact that this topic has been going on for
years.
The author Michael Dobie is on the editorial board for Newsday which I take into
consideration when deciding whether he is a credible source, which I do believe he is.
More information would help him build credibility, like having a high education and or
whether he is a really bias person on the topics he talks about. I couldn't find much in-formation
about him which makes it harder to make him credible.
In conclusion after all of my research over this topic I have found that the more I
know about a person the more credibility that I am willing to give them. Just knowing
that they are well educated and have researched this topic helps because I feel like they
know what they are talking about and aren't picking just one side. There are the times
when really intelligent authors can fuel misinformation, they do this by being really bias
in their article. They may just have a one sided opinion about the situation so they want
to persuade the reader onto their side. That can be very bad because some people may
not be very up to date on the topic that the author is discussing and then can be easily
swayed onto their side without knowing all the other possible views. To prevent the

5. Research Paper 5 Jenkins
spread of misinformation I think it is necessary to be well knowledgable about a subject
that way if someone says something that you know is not true at all then you're able to
relay the right information so they don't go around spreading that misinformation to
other around them.

6. Research Paper 6 Jenkins
Works Cited
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/michael-dobie
Karaim, Reed. "Paying College Athletes." CQ Researcher 11 July 2014: 577-600. Web.
15 Sept. 2014.
http://www.universitybusiness.com/author/kristen-domonell
Domonell, Kristen. “Northwestern Football Players Petition For Union.” University Busi-ness
17.3 (2014) : 12. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Sept. 2014.
Parasuraman, Rohith A. “Unionizing NCAA Division I Athletics: A Viable Solutions?.” Duke Law
Journal 57.3 (2007): 727-753. Acamdemic Search Premier. Web. 16 Sept.2014
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rohithparasuraman
Wolff, Alexander. “An Honest Wage” Sports Illustrated 80.21 (1994): 98. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 16 Sept. 2014