In the era of the internet, verifying the credibility of a source is easier said than done. When looking for information online, there is often no easy way to tell whether or not you’re reading a trustworthy article. This is especially problematic if you’re reading an article about medical matters, which is usually the case when reading online regarding controversial topics like politics, religion, or social issues.
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab has written a wonderful guide to help source-checking novices avoid getting tricked by fake news stories and to help experienced journalists identify the true quality of a source. To learn more, check out this important guide from Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab.
Introduction
When you read an article online, how do you know whether or not to trust it? You could run a quick search, read a few reviews, or check out the source’s website, but that doesn’t always provide the answers you’re looking for. Sometimes you need to verify the source yourself.
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab has published a detailed guide that will help you decide whether or not to trust a particular article. The guide offers tips on how to check the quality of a source and advises you on what to look out for so you don’t get fooled by fake news stories or poorly-written hit pieces.
This helpful guide from Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab will teach you several important things. First, it will teach you how to check the quality of a source based on four key factors:
- The author’s expertise (i.e., does the author claim to be an expert in the area)
- The author’s objectivity (i.e., is the author presenting the information in an unbiased way)
- The accuracy of the information (i.e., what other experts say about the topic)
- The credibility of the author (i.e., how other experts feel about the author)
Second, the guide will teach you how to use these four factors to assess the credibility of a source, no matter what type of article you’re reading. This includes both articles published in traditional formats and those published in digital formats such as blogs or social media accounts.
To follow along with the guide, simply visit Purdue’s Online Writing Lab and follow the instructions. You’ll soon be able to determine whether or not you can trust an article based on the information presented.
How Is This Guide Different From What You Find Online?
The sheer volume of information online makes it difficult to know where to start when researching a particular topic. You could spend hours sifting through blog posts, wikis, and forum threads, trying to find one or two credible sources to back up your claims. If you want to learn more about a particular topic, you’ll inevitably arrive at a point where you’re forced to choose between multiple conflicting articles, all of which are seemingly legitimate.
This is usually when you realize that none of the articles you’ve read have actually checked out the source themselves. After you’ve spent some time researching a particular topic, you’ll often find that the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. At that point, you’re forced to make a decision: do you continue researching and learning, or do you find an answer and move on?
The problem with this approach is that you never actually know if what you’re reading is an accurate representation of the topic. Even if you do find one or two articles that seem reliable, you still have no idea if those articles are telling the whole truth about the topic. Ultimately, you could end up wasting a lot of time by choosing the wrong answers because all of the information online agrees with the author’s claims.
By checking the source itself, you have the opportunity to verify whether or not the information is accurate. If you do decide to do this, it will most certainly take you longer, but at least you’ll know that you’re getting close to the truth.
Why Is Checking The Credibility Of A Source Important?
When you’re reading an article about a contentious issue like politics or religion, it’s important to do your research and find the most authoritative sources possible. If you need to learn more, do some reading on the topic and find a variety of opinions before you form your own. The point is to find the best sources of information so you can form your own educated opinion. Once you do, you can share your thoughts with others.
When it comes to issues like these, you can never have too much information. Even if you come across as being well-informed, you never know what new facts may emerge that change everything you thought you knew about the topic. In these situations, you need to read as much as you can, learn as much as you can, and then form your own opinion. In the end, this is the only way you’ll know for sure whether or not you’re being presented with the whole story. Otherwise, you could easily end up misinforming yourself.
On the other hand, if you’re reading an article about a non-controversial topic like fashion or sports, it doesn’t necessarily mean the information presented is false. The author may be presenting the facts accurately, but they may be using hyperbole or may not have all of the relevant information. In these situations, it’s usually not too important to check the source because the information is relatively unimportant. This is why it’s usually not necessary to check the source when learning about fashion or sports-related topics.
The problem with this approach is that you never know what information you may miss out on if you don’t do your research. Sometimes, even unimportant information can turn out to be important in the right context. For instance, if you don’t know what caused a particular fashion trend, you may think it was strange that all of the fashion magazines suddenly decided to cover the topic, but if you understood the context, you may realize that the information was actually valuable. In the same way, if you don’t know what caused a certain sports trend, you may think it’s strange that all of the major sports leagues decided to start requiring players to wear face masks during games, but if you understood the context, it may not be a bad idea at all.
While it’s important to be well-informed about issues that are important to you, it’s also important to remain open-minded about other topics that you may not be as familiar with. The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. Ultimately, this prevents you from being tricked by false information and improves your understanding of the world around you.
Checking The Credibility Of A Source: A Step-by-Step Guide
Now that you understand the significance of checking the source, it’s time to get to the good stuff. In the guide, you’ll learn several tips from Purdue’s Online Writing Lab that will help you easily check the credibility of a source. Remember, though, that this is not an easy task and can take some time.
First, you must understand that just because an author writes an article about a particular subject, it does not mean that they are an expert on the subject. You often have to do some additional research to determine the author’s expertise. This is especially important if the article is going to be regarding complex or technical topics. For example, if the article is about chemical compounds or technology, you’ll usually have to do some research to determine whether or not the author is an expert in these fields. If you don’t have the time to do this upfront, at least do some initial research before you start reading.
If you do decide to check the source, you must make sure that you’re reading a legitimate source. Sometimes, people will write an article about a subject and don’t have the expertise needed to back up their claims. This is a huge problem because how can you trust an author who doesn’t have the academic or professional credentials to back up their claims?