Assessing Credibility of Sources of Information

Why do we check our sources?

• To make sure they align with what we want

• To determine their credibility

• To discover new information

• To criticize and analyze

What makes a source credible? Check all that apply.

• The date it was published

• Who wrote it

• Where it was first published

• How well you agree with it

What is more important: the degree of the author, or how relevant the source is to your question?

• The degree of the author

• The relevance

Where is a good place to check the credibility of an author? Check all that apply.

• In a Google search

• Reviews of their work

• In their article biography

Why is it important to check the author's credentials when evaluating a source?

• To ensure the source is entertaining

• To determine the author's expertise on the topic

• To find out if the author has a nice profile picture

• To see how many followers the author has

When you evaluate a source, you should look for:

• the author, date and title

• just the information you need

How can cross-checking information across multiple sources improve reliability?

• It ensures the information is more entertaining

• It confirms the consistency and accuracy of the information

• It increases the number of advertisements

• It makes the information more colorful and visually appealing

What does it mean if a source is peer-reviewed?

• It has been reviewed by the author's peers at school

• It has been checked for accuracy by experts in the field before publication

• It is popular among the author's friends

• It has been published on a peer-to-peer sharing platform

You are on a .gov site, but can't find an author's name. Can you use this site?

• Yes, because .gov indicates it is a government website, which are only published by government agencies therefore the agency is considered the author.

• No because it MUST have an author's name listed to be credible.

Which of the following is a reliable source of information?

• A personal blog sharing opinions

• An academic journal

• A social media post

• An anonymous online forum