Academy at the Lakes Library

Sunshine State Young Readers Award

The Sunshine State Young Readers Award (SSYRA) Program is a statewide reading motivational program for students in grades 3 through 8. The purpose of the SSYRA Program is to encourage students to read independently for pleasure and to read books that are on, above, and below their reading level in order to improve their reading fluency. Sunshine State books are selected for their wide appeal, literary value, varied genres, curriculum, connections, and/or multicultural representation. The SSYRA committee is comprised of 20 qualified school librarians located throughout the state of Florida, subdivided into two committees- grades 3-5 and grades 6-8. 

The Evaluator's Toolbox

Use these terms to evaluate or decide if a source is appropriate for your research.

• Authority: credentials of the author(s) and the publisher or organization
  • Is the author an expert in the field? Is the publisher a trusted source? Is it a peer reviewed resource? 
• Audience: age appropriateness for the intended audience, consumers or experts in the field
  • Does the reading level match the academic rigor or audience level? Is there jargon, specific terms that only experts in the field would know, or does the author explain these concepts? 
• Scope, Coverage & Relevance: time/location covered, general or specific, relevance to topic
  • How much of this source covers your research question? Does the time, location, age of publication, and topic relate directly or tangentially to your topic? Is this a broad overview, or a niche topic, as compared to your topic? 
• Bias & Accuracy: author’s/publisher’s purpose, factualness
  • Does the author recognized their own bias? Are all points accurate and backed up with evidence? Is this an informational, opinion, persuasive, or casual piece?
• Currency & Timeliness: publication date, recency to topic
  • How timely or up to date is the publication to your specific needs?
• Quality: methodology, writing and organization skills, the argument, quality of sources
  • Are the methodologies used well done? Does the argument follow in a clear orderly way, accounting for counter-arguments, trends, current research, etc.? Are the sources used complete, cited properly, and of academic quality? 
• Commercialism: .com, sponsorship, advertisements, products
  • Do you suspect money is a primary motivation to the publication of your source?