1. Don’t Listen to the Village Idiot
Credible Sources
Don’t Listen to the Village Idiot

2. Credibility Definition:
1.capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement.
2.worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness.
Credibility is important!
If your research is flawed, so is your argument.
If you use credible sources, you can believe them, and your readers can believe you.

3. How do I know if my sources are credible?
Most books you find in library nonfiction are credible.
Most large newspapers are credible.
New York Times
Charlotte Observer
Washington Post
Scholarly journals are usually credible.
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)

4. How do I know if my sources are credible?
Most government publications are credible.
Reputable organizations are usually credible.
American Cancer Society
World Health Organization
American Red Cross
Most information from colleges is credible.
.edu websites

5. How do I know if my sources are credible?
You can automatically rule out:
Wikipedia
Myspace
Geocities
Blogs
Friendster
Personal sites

6. Checklist for Information Quality
CARS is an acronym for . . .
Credibility,
Accuracy,
Reasonableness,
and Support
CARS
Checklist for Information Quality

7. Credibility
Credibility merely means that an author of a web site has credentials that prove he or she is knowledgeable in a field. After all, you don’t want information about your health provided by an electrician in Ohio who enjoys reading health guides during his lunch breaks!
Thus, when you arrive at a site, you should ask several important questions that will help you assess the credibility of the site.

8. A Question of Credibility
Is the author’s name present?
What type of extension is at the end of the URL?
Is there any biographical information listed?
Does the author have a degree or job experience in the field he/she is discussing?
Is the author affiliated with a prominent institution?
Does he/she include a bibliography of his/her previous published works?
Anonymity should be considered suspicious. A .com extension indicates a commercial site, whereas an edu, gov or org extension indicates an education, government or organization site. An author should be forthcoming with information about himself, his experience, and his affiliations. If any of the information provided seems fraudulent, try to cross-reference his name and check his affiliations. Also, if a tilde appears in his URL, it indicates that the site is a personal page created by an individual, not an institution. In addition, make sure the site is not created to sell a product. Usually, a “commercial” site will contain “com” in its URL. Finally, use good judgment and trust your instincts! ?

9. If a site is inaccurate, its intention may be to mislead you.
Accuracy
Accuracy merely means that the information offered at a site is correct and supported by other reputable sources.
If a site is inaccurate, its intention may be to mislead you.
Thus, when you arrive at a site, you should ask several important questions that will help you assess the accuracy of the site.

10. A Question of Accuracy
Does the site contain numerous spelling errors or numerical inaccuracies?
Does it include information that is contradicted by other sites?
Does it contradict itself?
Is the information outdated or obsolete?
Are the links functioning? Are they annotated?
Has the site been operating properly each time you visited?
Is the content meaningful?
Does it seem like fact or fiction?
You should be leery if a site includes errors. This suggests that the author is a questionable source of information. So too, whenever you find a site that seems like an ambiguous blend of fact and fiction, or includes nonsensical information, quickly move to another site. Also, if a site or its links do not operate properly, you cannot depend on them to provide current data. In fact, you can go to “File” and “Properties” or “Get Info” to find the last date a site was updated! Finally, any website that seems intentionally confusing or distracting should be avoided. ?

11. Internut Reasonableness
Reasonableness merely means that the information, data, tone, argument and perspective offered at a site are judicious and reasonable. Remember, your goal is to avoid the odd and unreasonable world of the
Internut
Thus, when you arrive at a site, you should ask several important questions that will help you assess the reasonableness of the site.

12. A Question of Reasonableness
Is the purpose stated clearly?
Is a reasonable tone maintained throughout?
Does it offer a well-balanced argument that provides various perspectives?
Does it include biased views or exaggeration?
Are there glaring flaws in the arguments provided?
Does the author share extremist views that reveal undue anger or anxiety?
Does the author request personal data from the viewer?
The sites that should cause you concern are those that espouse prejudicial or slanted views rather than offering a variety of opinions on a given topic. Even position papers must offer differing views and rebuttals. Obviously, exaggeration and misleading information should also cause you to be highly critical of a site. Likewise, if the explanations are rambling and unfocused, or betray extremist views, you should move on to a more reasonable site. Lastly, whenever a site prompts you to provide information about yourself, avoid it! ?

13. Support
Support merely means that the site is sponsored by accredited institutions, and that the author is closely affiliated with major, respected organizations.
Another meaning of support is that the points made at the site are supported by evidence.
Thus, when you arrive at a site, you should ask several important questions that will help you assess the support of the site.

14. A Question of Support
Are prominent, respected institutions identified as affiliates of the site?
Is an abbreviation for a respected institution included in the URL?
Does the site offer instructional support materials from those organizations or links to them?
Does it contain primary source material and links to supporting documentation?
Are the points made proven by sound data from reliable sources?
Can you contact the affiliate organizations?
Web site authors who are credible will provide information regarding them-selves & their affiliates. If they are trustworthy, they will include links as well methods of contacting those organizations. In fact, an abbreviation for one of those institutions may appear in the address: the URL may even include “edu” or “gov.” For a complete list, visit this comprehensive site. Furthermore, relevant examples, data and proof should be provided in a clear and coherent fashion. The site should clearly indicate whether its intention is to inform, persuade, educate, or entertain the viewer, so that you can be an informed, critical reader. ?

15. We hope this helps you develop a critical eye!
A Special Thanks . . .
The following sites offered a wealth of information about criteria and CARS:
Vanguard University of Southern California at
sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm
Susan Beck’s site at
lib.nmsu.edu/staff/susabeck/evalcrit.html
We hope this helps you develop a critical eye!

16. Using the Internet for Research
The internet offers the BEST information on MANY topics.
The internet offers the WORST information on MOST topics.
You can use internet resources for research papers, but you have to be careful.

17. Credible Internet Sources
Ways to tell a credible internet source:
Looks professional
The website doesn’t look like it was made by a 4-year- old with a crayon
All or most links are working
Information offered is easy to verify
The website offers links to where they found their information
The sources of their information is also credible

18. Credible Internet Sources
It is easy to contact the owners of the website for more information or to ask questions
The site is up to date
Information from 1991 is not listed as “recent”
There are no errors
The site uses proper spelling and grammar
The website is appropriate
There is no inappropriate language, graphics, or photos

19. Credible Internet Sources
These guidelines are not 100%
When in doubt, ask for help from a teacher or librarian
If you’re still not sure, DON’T use it
Be careful with .com sites
All .com sites are trying to sell something, which means they are all biased in some way
Sites with lots of advertisements are usually less credible

20. Citing Sources With MLA
It’s not as hard as it used to be.

21. Citing Works in Research Papers
If you use ANY information from a source in your paper, you must CITE it.
Works Cited Page
In-Text Citations
If you didn’t say it yourself and you don’t cite it, it is plagiarism.
Plagiarism can result in:
A zero for the assignment
A requirement to redo the entire assignment
In college, plagiarism may fail you for an entire course
In college, plagiarism may result in expulsion, with no tuition refund

22. Plagiarism Is much easier to spot than it used to be
Doesn’t take very long for a teacher to check
A teacher can type 10 words of your paper into a search engine, and within seconds, compare it to tens of thousands of other papers that have already been written
In high school, many teachers believe that you are guilty until proven innocent of plagiarism
Is easy to avoid
Citation makers
MLA style sheets

23. How to Cite Sources
Citation makers will write your works cited page for you if you have the right information on your sources
Books, articles, and websites are all cited differently
The more information you have, the better
When you find a source that you think you can use, you need to make sure you have several things

24. Making Citations Your checklist:
Author
Title
Publication company
Publication location
Publication date
Page numbers
Date accessed online
Editor
ENTIRE web address
You might not always be able to find all of this information, but get as much as you can.

25. Citation Maker
Go to Son of Citation Machine
Click on “MLA” at the top left of the page.
Click on the type of source you want to cite.
Fill in the boxes for your source.
Click “Submit”.
Voila!  Your citation is written.

26. EXIT TICKET
How can you tell the difference between a primary and secondary source?
List two reliable resources you could use when researching a famous person involved in the civil rights movement.

27. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.
Questions and Answers
If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.