How to Evaluate Sources: The Death of Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp

To get a general idea about who Christopher McCandless (aka Alexander Supertramp) was, look at the Wikipedia entry. 

There are a lot of different questions that could be asked about Christopher McCandless: 

Was his death an act of suicide or an accident?
What was his exact cause of death? 
How did his upbringing influence him?
How did his reading influence him? 
Was he “crazy”?
How did his death influence others? 

All of the following could be used for sources, but it depends on which direction you decide to go in for the paper. 

There is a movie called Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, which is based on the book by Jon Krakauer, which was originally written as an article for Outside. 

There is also a documentary about Chris’s life called Call of the Wild in which the filmmaker, Ron Lamothe, follows in Chris’s footsteps and interviews many of the people from Chris’s life. He found a lot of things wrong with Penn’s movie and Krakauer’s assessments, which are detailed in part of his website. 

Another book is in the works, due out the end of this year, called Back to the Wild. Here is the author's website. 

Other sources: 

“The Cult of Chris McCandless”

Chris’s S.O.S. note

“Mother Nature’s Restless Sons”

An interview with a man who met Chris on the road. 

"Come to Alaska, but please don't go 'Wild'"

Excerpts from Chris’s own writing in his college newspaper: 

“10 True Facts about Chris McCandless, or Alaska scores another point for natural selection”

“Into the Wild: The False Being Within”

In which situations might these different sources be useful? What might make you not want to use them? Think about what you have learned about different kinds of sources.