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Introduction
Evaluating Your Search Strategy
Evaluating Your Sources

Final Page, Objectives

 

Evaluating

Determining Credibility

Determining the author's credibility

Do you believe everything you read? Knowing more about an author can help you, the reader, judge their credibility. Ask yourself, "Who is the author, and is he or she credible? Why or why not?" It is hard to always know what makes

If you were writing about the relationship between human activity and the temperature of the earth, whose work would you choose to include in your paper? Look for clues that suggest their level of expertise and/or bias.

A. An atmospheric physicist at Winston University and founder of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, a think tank on climate and environmental issues

 

B. A Washington Post staff writer who was written articles such as "Arctic Ice Shelf Crumbles Into Sea," "In Infrastructure Debate, Politics Is Key Player," and "President's Reform Efforts Get Results."

 

C. Current president of Greater Chipiwick Enviromental Club, and publisher of a website that discusses the major causes of global warming in the last 100 years.

Determining the publisher's credibility

Similar to judging an author's credentials, knowing more about a publishing company can help you understand their potential biases. Keep in mind that publishing standards vary for each publishing house. XYZ Publishing may print anything that will bring a profit, whereas H. University Press may screen all information they publish to ensure the validity of the content, protecting their reputation.

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Need to know more about the author or publisher? If you don't find this information in the source itself, try searching on your own:

  • Google is good for finding author information. Try searching by the author's full name.
  • Ulrich's provides publisher information for 1000s of periodicals, including how often it's published, who it's readers are, what subject(s) it covers, whether it is refereed, and so on. Search the publication name, then look at the "basic description" and "reviews" tabs.
  • Click here for more help on using Ulrich's Int'l. Periodical Index
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