This paper assesses the article “US Gun Policy: Global Comparisons” written by Jonathan Masters. This article was found on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) website, where it was initially published. That is the website of an independent membership organization that performs as an educational institution aimed to inform society about the decisions of foreign policies facing the United States and the outside world.
The article’s author is the deputy managing editor for the CFR, leading other writers and editors who produce content of various types for the organization. This paper aims to evaluate the article from the viewpoints of credibility and usefulness. Overall, the final assessment of the writing on its credibility and usefulness has shown that it is trustworthy and valuable for further research as it contains much helpful information from credible sources.
First, the article’s credibility is undoubted as it is written as a part of a major organization’s activity. The Council on Foreign Relations is a major publisher, and with Masters (2017) being the author of the article and the deputy manager of the organization, the writing deserves to be considered trustworthy. Moreover, Masters (2017) refers to other resources that have proven to be credible throughout time, such as New York Times and GQ. Masters (2017) supports his claims with evidence from those resources and makes many factual statements in the paper.
In addition, the author refers to significant events in history, such as the Hungerford massacre, mentions several military programs related to the topic, and personalities that have contributed to the development of the issues one way or another (Masters, 2017). Everything mentioned above proves the credibility of the “US Gun Policy” article by Jonathan Masters and makes the writing trustworthy.
The usefulness of the article under discussion is evident as there is much information that can help the author of this paper proceed with their own research. In his writing, Masters (2017) proposes a thesis that the dispute regarding gun control in the United States is still active since many controversial issues are yet to be solved. The author provides evidence on the gun control systems in the laws of the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, United Kingdom, Norway, and Japan (Masters, 2017). Therefore, the article provides readers with an opportunity to conduct a comparative analysis of the gun control systems in different countries of the civilized world.
Overall, the “US Gun Policy” article by Jonathan Masters is credible and useful as it contains valuable data supported by trustworthy resources. The article’s credibility can be proven by the scope of the organization that has published it and various studies that the author refers to in his work. Then, the article’s usefulness is explained by the amount of valuable information presented in the paper.
Personal Reflection
When evaluating the credibility and usefulness of the article, I asked myself several questions, such as “Who are the author and the publisher of the article? Can I trust them?” and other similar questions. I checked the information on CFR and Jonathan Masters to be sure of their trustworthiness. This evaluation practice can help me continue with my research as I have gained knowledge and experience in critical analysis. Further, I will evaluate each resource I use in my works to ensure that I only exploit credible information from reliable sources.
Reference
Masters, J. (2017). US gun policy: Global comparisons. Council on Foreign Relations. Web.