The Case for Credibility
Why Evaluate Your Sources?
Evaluating your sources of information is the process of examining, analyzing, and judging whether or not you should use the source, and if so how. In other words, evaluation is about making decisions. In academic work, the information, sources, and ideas you cite matter. They should be both relevant to your argument and credible.
Why are we concerned about credibility? First and foremost, because using appropriate sources makes you a more credible author! Your opinion matters, but credible information that supports your claims will strengthen your position. You wouldn't want to include outdated or incorrect information.
What does it mean for a source to be credible?
It's not always as simple as finding a .org or .gov website, or reading the "About" page of a website. You will need to investigate further and build a case for credibility, providing evidence that supports your decision to use a source or not.
Follow these steps to help you determine whether your source is credible.
- Do you need hard data, or numerical information?
- Do you need a summary or topic overview?
- Do you need studies that have been done that will serve as evidence of a claim?
- Do you need to know the absolute most recent news on a topic?
All of these will require different types of sources. Is the source you are looking at a good match for what you need?
Step 2 - Define credibility: How do you decide something is credible? What clues do you look for? It's important to proceed with a definition of exactly what credibility is. Make sure to define credibility in terms of content of the information, not its format. In other words, credibility is not dependent on whether the information is delivered in print or electronically. (Similarly, a source is not credible solely because you found it at the library.) Define credibility in terms of qualities that are related to the source’s content, currency, and authorship.
Step 3 - Question yourself: Examine your definition. Ask yourself how your own personal biases or points of view might influence your definition of credibility and the application of your definition.
Step 4 - Apply: Apply your definition to the information source. Read the source and look for the clues that you decided indicated credibility.
Step 5 - Consider Purpose: Consider the purpose of the source, in particular the audience and the desired impact.
- What community of people are most likely to read this?
- What group of people will be most affected by it?
- What is the author trying to accomplish, and what impact does that have on its credibility?
Hint: if your answers are too general, dig deeper. It's not enough to say that a source is written for "anyone."
Step 6 - Decide: Decide if your source is credible. Does it meet the requirements you’ve defined? Why or why not? You should be able to stand behind your decision with confidence.
The practice activity at the end of this module will ask you to apply these steps to a source to determine its credibility. While you may not always go through each step, it's important to think about your definition of credibility as you search for information and include it in your work.