ENGLISH 214 SOURCE EVALUATION

NAME: ID: SEC/SN:

REPORT TITLE: The Usage of Mechanical Systems in Towns and Cities: A ProblemSolution Approach 1. THE SOURCE
How long is your source? 8 pages. How did you find the source?: I typed in howstuffworks engine into the Google search engine. This article was the first on the list. Write a complete APA reference for your source:

Brain, M. (n.d.). How car engines work. Retrieved from http://www.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm 2. SUMMARY OF THE SOURCE
In about100 words, summarize the main points of your source.

The articles main objective is to discuss, with sufficient detail, the internal combustion engine, opting to use a conventional car engine for demonstrative purposes. It commences its premises by explicitly defining what an internal combustion engine is, and making clear-cut its distinction from its counterpart, the external combustion engine. It then proceeds to illustrate the mechanism by which such an engine is driven, which manifests in what is known as the four-stroke combustion cycle (also known as Ottos cycle). Afterwards, it subdivides internal combustion engines as inline, flat and V-shaped engines based on their cylinder configuration, while briefly discussing how each configuration fits a specific application. With quite sufficient detail then, the article proceeds to discuss the main parts of an engine and the major systems of which its made up, with such a discussion beyond the scope of this summary. The article then lists the most frequent problems an internal combustion engine can run into and tries to provide solutions to the foregoing problems. The article concludes its deliberations by answering some of the most frequent questions about internal combustion engines. 3. EVALUATION:
In about 100 words, explain why you chose this source for your report. Relevance: connect relevant parts of the source with your outline. Article: what level is it? How up-to-date is the information? Publication / website / author: are they reputable, unbiased and knowledgeable?

The article is quite relevant to my report since an entire section of it is dedicated to engines. The language level of the article is quite mild and the article seems up to date, though such a requirement is redundant since internal combustion engines didnt change drastically since their inception. The website is quite reliable and its authority in its niche is quite established.

The article is of technical and descriptive nature, which diminishes the possibility of it being biased dramatically. The writer happens to be the founder of the website, and besides having a masters degree in a technical discipline, he also is a renowned national figure for his howstuffworks franchise.