Is It Reliable?

There are hundreds of sources for your research topic; however, you need to ensure they are credible before you use the information. What does CREDIBLE mean?

• Overly vague and non-specific.

• True and trusted; coming from an expert source.

• Related to the claim/topic.

• Coming from a popular source.

You can identify credible sources using the acronym UCA. What does the A in UCA stand for?

• Apprentice

• Author

• Applicability

• Allusion

You can tell an author is credible by all of the following EXCEPT:

• He or she has studied the topic and share the sources he or she used.

• He or she has a YouTube video posted about the topic.

• He or she has an academic degree in the topic.

• He or she is considered an expert in the topic.

When analyzing sources, you need to consider the author's purpose: what he or she is trying to do. If the author is trying to persuade you of something, the information given may not be credible--it may be _______________, which means slanted towards one side or opinion.

• irrelevant

• uninformed

• biased

• whack

True or False: Wikipedia is a reliable source.

• True

• False

The domain ".gov" means . . .

• The website is sponsored by the government.

• The website is sponsored by an educational institution.

• The website is owned by an organization.

• The website is definitely NOT biased.

The domain ".com" tells you that . . .

• the credibility cannot be determined because it can be for any type of website.

• the information is definitely biased.

• the information is sponsored by an organization so it might be credible, but more research needs to be done.

• you have accessed a blog.

The domain ".edu" tells you that the source is most likely trustworthy.

• True

• False

When researching topics, we need to make sure the research we do is relevant. What does the word "relevant" mean?

• Accurate and true.

• Slanted towards one side or another.

• Unrelated to the topic.

• Related to the topic/claim.

Which of the following websites can probably be trusted to have credible, reliable information?

• youtube.com

• reddit.com

• library.ecu.edu

• weebly.com