Evaluation of Scholarly Sources

The following scholarly sources provide a more reliable and comprehensive look at the controversy as it has been presented to Congress.

Michael Sullivan, Travis Masters, Peter Anderson; James Bennett; Marvin Bonner; Kristine Hassinger; Megan Porter; Marie Suding; and Abby Volk, "F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Budgeted Costs by Service, 2015-2019" 04/14/2015 via U.S. GAO

Sources

1. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program: Background and Issues for Congress

What is its purpose?
This paper was published while the fiscal year 2010 budget was being debated in congress. Its purpose was to detail the congressional debate surrounding the F-35 program and its context.

How and where is it published?
The paper is a congressional report published by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress in Washington D.C. It has been approved for public release.

What kinds of sources does it cite?
The report cites other congressional reports and scholarly articles in the footnotes. Providing citations in footnotes rather than a bibliography appears to be a convention of congressional reports.

Who is the author?
Jeremiah Gertler is a Specialist in Military Aviation. The acknowledgements also attribute a portion of the work to Ronald O’Rourke, CRS’ Specialist in Naval Affairs.

Who is its intended audience?
Congressional reports are intended to be read by politicians and their staff, so they will have adequate background knowledge of the subject matter they are proposing, debating, or voting on.

How did I find it?
I found this source by searching for F-35 Fighter in the Google Scholar database.

2. J-35 Joint Strike Fighter: Assessment Needed to Address Affordability Challenges

What is its purpose?
The paper provides an updated analysis of the cost-benefit of the F-35 program and was reported to the related congressional committees.

How and where is it published?
The paper was published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington D.C. on April 14, 2015 and released for public view.

What kinds of sources does it cite?
The paper primarily references previous G.A.O. papers

Who is the author?
The listed contributors are Michael Sullivan, Travis Masters, Assistant Director; Peter Anderson; James Bennett; Marvin Bonner; Kristine Hassinger; Megan Porter; Marie Suding; and Abby Volk. All of the contributors are G.A.O. staff members.

Who is its intended audience?
The paper was originally written to present the G.A.O.'s project funding recommendations to the congressional committees.

How did I find it?
After struggling to find a second useful article with the databases, I found a precursor to this paper in the references of one of my general sources. After realizing that it came from a U.S. government department, I searched for a more recent report and found this paper.