1. Reliability of Sources
How can you tell if a source is reliable?

2. Reliability of Sources?
What is a source?
What is reliable?
A source is
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Reliable is…
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3. Brainstorm
Why does it matter if a source is reliable?

4. How Do We Figure It Out? Things to Consider
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How?

5. Who?
Who is the author?
A source can’t be reliable if the author is not reliable.
What makes a reliable author?
Expert on the subject
Experience related to the subject
Look at the author’s credentials
No Author
be suspicious of sources without an author

6. What? What information is provided? Relevant vs. Irrelevant
Relevant – related to your topic
Irrelevent – unrelated to your topic
NOT reliable
Formal vs. Informal
formal – academic, no errors, not colloquial
informal – slang, writes how speaks, errors

7. Where? Where is the information published?
What is the reputation of the publication?
Trustworthy
well-known
If the publication does not meet these criteria, it is probably not reliable.
What does the end of the web address stand for?
.com - commercial
.org – non profit
.edu – education
.gov – government

8. When? When was the information published? © Old vs. New
Check the copyright year
Old vs. New
Old
If you are gathering information that will not change, like date of birth or date of death, the age of your source does not matter.
For most other information, you do not want a source that is more than five years old.
New
It is important for sources to be new, or less than five years old, because you want accurate and up-to-date information.

9. Why? Why is the author publishing?
The author’s why provides his/her intention or purpose.
Inform, persuade, entertain, etc.
Can affect the reliability of the source
Ex. persuade can include bias, which may not be useful for your purposes

10. How? How is the information presented? Source appears organized
Author(s) are identified
Visuals are pertinent, or relevant
No grammar or spelling mistakes

11. Reliable?
Based on the criteria above? Is this source reliable? Why or why not?

12. How Reliable?
Based on the criteria above? Is this source reliable? Why or why not?

13. How Reliable?
Based on the criteria above? Is this source reliable? Why or why not?