Evaluating sources

• Bennett, Anthony J. 2013. A2 US Government and Politics. Phillip Allan.
• This source is useful as a generic source of information to back up facts. It should preferably not be used for analysis -- as its purpose is not to provide that. As a textbook used by many students, it should certainly be reliable.
• Ackerman, Bruce. 2007. The Failure of the Founding Fathers Jefferson, Marshall and the Rise of Presidential Democracy. Harvard University Press.
• This book discusses the failure of the presidential election of 1800, which resulted in the 12th amendment (the vice-president and president run on the same party ticket).
• Magstadt, Thomas M. 2010. Nations and Government: Comparative Politics in Regional Perspective. Cengage Learning.
• This book does what it says on the tin -- it is comparing and contrasting political systems, so its main focus is not exclusively the U.S. However it does provide a short and helpful analysis upon the voting system (the Electoral College) used in the United States, which I will almost certainly use. The genre of the book is textbook-ish, with its audience most likely being university students of Politics and/or International Relations. As such it is summarising commonly accepted viewpoints and other ideas -- it is not a journal source. Because of this, it should be reliable, not accepting any controversial fringe points of view.