Read through the following statements/questions. You should be able to answer all of these after reading through the content on this page. I suggest writing or typing out your answers, but if nothing else, say them out loud to yourself.
As I'm sure you know, there is no shortage of information sources available to us, especially those of us with an Internet connection. We live in a unique moment in human history [1] - never before has it been so easy for so many to access so much information so quickly. But having so much available can make it difficult to determine whether or not information sources can be trusted. Engaging in critical thinking requires (among other things) knowing credible sources of information. This is an imperfect science, but there are many ways to evaluate sources. Harvard University provides a good, straightforward guide to doing this.
I will ask you to analyze the reliability of information sources throughout the semester, so please take the time to read this thoroughly. Here are some general and additional tips:
Overall, understanding the reliability of sources gets easier with time. The keys are a) to keep reading and paying attention to other information sources, b) to constantly investigate the reliability of sources, and most importantly c) learn as much as you can! The more you do this, the more you will develop a "bias detector," so to speak.
This can be complicated, so here are a few scenarios that might help you as you evaluate sources throughout the course. This is not comprehensive, but provides some common scenarios you may encounter.
Information source details | Evaluation |
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The information is pulled directly from a peer-reviewed journal. |
It's a good idea to google the journal to see if it's reputable or not, and you should google the author(s) as well. This is the best source of information you can use. |
The information is NOT an opinion and is from a known reputable source (e.g., NPR, New York Times, Wall Street Journal). | Note that the source is reliable (make sure you know this for a fact), but suggested to look to verify the information elsewhere to be certain. |
An article provides a summary of peer-reviewed research, but you are not familiar with the source and/or author. |
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An article seems reliable, but you are not familiar with the source and/or author. |
Follow all of the steps listed in the box above. |
The website is a non-profit (.org). | As stated above, this is basically meaningless! There are many objective non-profits, but many biased ones. Perform the research indicated above. |
The information comes from an academic institution. |
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You click on the "about" link on the organization's website, and they state that: "<name of organization> provides research-based, unbiased information about..." |
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The information seems reliable, but is on a site that has a known bias (e.g. Fox News or MSNBC) or is from an advocacy organization or company that might seek to promote their own interest. |
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The information is from a government website. |
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The information is on Wikipedia. | NEVER cite Wikipedia! It is absolutely fine to use it as an initial source, but ALWAYS use another, reputable source to verify the information. Wikipedia does a good job of citing their sources, so click on the citation/footnote link to find the original source, and proceed from there. I love looking up things on Wikipedia as much as the next person, but I never assume that it is accurate unless I can verify it elsewhere. |
Please know that you are not expected to memorize all of this! I will try to be as clear as possible when I ask you how to analyze a source. But moving forward you should always at least investigate the following when analyzing a specific information source:
For any other article, evaluate the following:
Author's credentials (e.g. Do they appear to be an authority on the subject? Is their expertise relevant?)
Objectivity of the way the information is presented in the article (e.g. is it matter-of-fact/objective or does it use sensational/emotional language?)
Objectivity of the site the information is on (Investigate other articles on the website to see if their appears to be an agenda.) For example, is the article on Fox News? New York Times? Etc. Does that site have an agenda?
Reliability of original source material (Does the author use reliable sources? Can you find other reliable sources that have the same information? Do they cite all sources?)
Keep in mind that this is as much an art as a science! Use your best judgment based on the factors above to evaluate the source. Remember that a source can be totally reliable, totally unreliable, or all points between.
Now that you have completed the content, I suggest going through the Learning Objectives Self-Check list at the top of the page.