1. Credibility of Sources
How can you tell if a source is going to be credible or reliable ?
-Ms. Bollinger
January 25, 2019

2. Today’s Objective: Students will:
­ identify and analyze features of a source to help determine relevance and reliability in a given context
Explain why one source is more credible over another source
compare information about sources to determine if they are appropriate for use

3. Primary sources
A primary source is an original object or document -- the raw material or first-hand information.
Eye witness accounts are also a primary source, but are less reliable than a document.

4. A primary source is an original object or document -- the raw material or first-hand information.
historical and legal documents
results of an experiment
statistical data
pieces of creative writing
art objects
eye witness accounts

5. Secondary sources
A secondary source is something written about a primary source.
You can think of secondary sources as second-hand information. If I tell you something, I am the primary source. If you tell someone else what I told you, you are the secondhand source.

6. Secondary sources Secondary sources include: comments on
interpretations of
discussions about the original material

7. Secondary sources Secondary source materials can be:
articles in newspapers
popular magazines
book or movie reviews
articles found in scholarly journals that evaluate or criticize someone else's original research

8. What is the source of the information being considered?
Publication -Date - is the information current, or does it need to be current?
-Reputation of publication - is the source well known and trustworthy?
-Kind of publication - is it a scientific report,   eye-witness account, a work of fiction?

9. Checklist for Information Quality
CARS is an acronym for . . .
Credibility,
Accuracy,
Reasonableness,
and Support
CARS
Students write these notes on the paper they already started with the "Fast Five" info text reading activity.
This poster is FREE in my
Checklist for Information Quality

10. CARS Credibility Check the URL (.gov, .mil, or .edu)
Check the sponsor (a university or government or medical agency)
Can you identify the author/credentials?
Purpose (are they selling or informing or just talking?)

11. CARS Accuracy Correctness Up to date (for what it is) Spelling
Grammar mistakes

12. Reasonableness and Purpose
CARS
Reasonableness and Purpose
Tone (is it angry or whiny or professional?)
Bias (does it lean more toward one side?)
Logic (does it make sense?)
Why are they giving this info?
Are there excessive ads?

13. CARS Support Sponsored/Publisher Cited (research evidence provided)
Contact information
Valid and working links

14. Author or Speaker
-Qualifications - is s/he an expert in his/her field?
-Bias - is s/he one-sided in his/her point-of-view?
-Values - what does the author value in regards to the topic?
-Chance for personal gain - does the author stand to benefit from his position?

15. Means of getting the Information
-Witness or researcher - was the author or speaker a first-hand witness to the information or did s/he gather it from some other source? 
-Equipment - what kind of equipment was used to record information?          

16. URL Reliable: .edu= educational institution .gov=government
.mil=military
Not as Reliable:
.com=commercial (sales) --
.net=network
.org=nonprofit -

17. How Credible?

18. How Credible?

19. How Reliable?

20. How Credible?

21. How Reliable?

22. Practice: Carsonhighschoollibrary.weebly.com
“more” tab (farthest upper right corner)
Recommended Websites for Research
Ms. Fleming’s Class
Open up: credible vs. non-credible sources AND Tree Octopus AND Nat’l Octopus

23. Review: Credible vs. non-credible websites 1. Tree Octopus
2. The King Center & Neo-Nazis
3. Credible/non-credible sources
4. MLA format (worksheet & student resources)

24. LAUSD’s Digital Databases:
1. carsonhighschoollibrary.weebly.com
2. “Online Library” tab
3. “LAUSD Digital Library” link
(2nd down -left)
4. Type in “key words”- search 16
5. Remote Access- home login/gmail

25. Let’s rank some sources!
If you were looking for information on Hurricane Katrina which source would be the most reliable?
A. victim blog
B. novel
C. newspaper report
D. eyewitness account
Which one is the least reliable?

26. If you were doing a report on Barack Obama, rank these sources from most reliability to least reliability.
1. A recent Time magazine article
2. An encyclopedia article dated 1/30/05
3. An article in the National Enquirer
4. A blog by Obama’s campaign manager
1,2,4,3

27. Rank the following resources from greatest reliability to least realiability for an essay titled “War in Iraq.”
1. Newspaper article “War in Iraq” by a war correspondent
2. Tabloid article “What They Don’t Let Us Know”
3. Internet site on Iraq and the postwar period
4. Journal of a soldier serving in Iraq
1, 4, 3, 2

28. Rank these sources from most reliable to least reliable.
1. Article in The Tennessean
2. Eyewitness account
3. Internet article
4. National Enquirer Magazine
2, 1, 3, 4

29. Perhaps the best way to think of the reliability of information is to think of it as existing on a scale, rather than falling into the categories of reliable or unreliable. Information can range from very unreliable to highly reliable and also anywhere in between.

30. How can you judge the reliability of the information that you find?
One way is to compare the information about the same topic across multiple sources.
Let’s look at three different sources on the Internet about the same subject:
Elvis Presley

31. Let’s compare some sources and check for reliability.
As we visit these websites, ask yourself:
Which one would you judge as having the highest reliability? Which one would you place lowest on the reliability scale? Which one might fall somewhere in between?
You will need your “Judging Reliability by Comparing Sources” worksheet.

32. Here are the websites we will evaluate for reliability:
Discover Elvis
Elvis Sightings
Info Please

33. How reliable is the Internet?
Let’s check out this
website on the tree octopus.
That’s right, it’s a complete hoax!!
The entire website (as well as MANY others) is a joke.
Remember – Don’t believe everything you read…..ESPECIALLY on the Internet.
Question: Is the internet a reliable source?
Answer: Not always….BE CAREFUL!

34. Rank these sources from most reliable to least reliable.
1. Internet website
2. Written diary of an eye-witness to an event
3. Newspaper article from USA Today
4. An article in a supermarket tabloid
2, 3, 1, 4