1. Reading Comprehension:
Analyzing Sources
From: Cambridge International AS Level English General Paper Coursebook by Jill Pavich

2. What is “true”?
As I’ve been saying, and as you should know, you CAN’T TRUST ANYTHING ANYMORE!!! (Wait, does that sound paranoid and a bit ranty?)
The point is, you may be asked to analyze the credibility of a source, and you need to consider a few aspects of a source when reading it. (You can also apply this to the real world when you read articles you find on Snapchat about border agents throwing wheelchair-bound grannies over the border wall.) Let’s look at RAVEN.

3. Reputation
Reputation is important when considering how reliable a source is. A source that can be considered a trusted authority on an issue is much better than a source that has been previously exposed for bending the truth. In addition, if a source can prove consistently over a long period of time that it is trustworthy, then this is an important way to prove credibility.
Remember our pre-reading strategies? Look for the source of “Second Chances.”

4. “Second Chances” Source- The Times
The Times, a daily newspaper published in London, is one of Britain’s oldest and most influential newspapers. It is generally accounted, with The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph, one of Britain’s “big three” and has long been recognized as one of the world’s greatest newspapers.

5. Ability to Observe
First-hand experience, or the ability to observe an issue directly, gives a source greater authority for reporting than a source which does not have direct contact with the issue. For example, a British journalist reporting on child labor in the Congo might not be as credible if he reports from another country. If the journalist is stationed in the Congo, however, this improves his credibility. By being closer to the issue itself, this source would have more of an ability to observe the issue directly, as opposed to giving a second- hand account.
If two friends tell you about what happened at a party the previous weekend, would you be more likely to believe the friend who was there, or the friend who “heard” about what happened?

6. Example: Jayson Blair, former NY Times Writer
In 2003, it was discovered that Jayson Blair had plagiarized the majority of his stories written for the New York Times.
In the February 10, 2003 piece "Peace and Answers Eluding Victims of the Sniper Attacks", Blair claimed to be in Washington. He allegedly plagiarized quotations from a Washington Post story and fabricated quotations from a person he had never interviewed. Blair ascribed a wide range of attributes to a man featured in the article, almost all of which the man in question denied. Blair also published information that he had promised was to be off the record.
In the April 3, 2003 piece "Rescue in Iraq and a 'Big Stir' in West Virginia", Blair claimed to have covered the Lynch story from her hometown of Palestine, West Virginia. Blair never traveled to Palestine, and his entire contribution to the story consisted of rearranged details from Associated Press stories.
In the April 7, 2003 piece "For One Pastor, the War Hits Home", Blair wrote of a church service in Cleveland and an interview with the minister. Blair never went to Cleveland; he spoke to the minister by telephone, and copied portions of the article from an earlier Washington Post article. He also plagiarized quotations from The Plain Dealer and New York Daily News. He fabricated a detail about the minister keeping a picture of his son inside his Bible and got the name of the church wrong. I
This is, of course, an extreme case, in which the reporter repeatedly lied about his location and experiences.

7. Vested Interest
Having a vested interest, or something personally at stake, may strengthen or compromise (weaken)a source’s credibility. Consider the following two scenarios:
A start-up company selling product X notes the benefits while not mentioning the side-effects.
A reputable law firm takes on a controversial case concerning a local celebrity.
In each of these cases, how does vested interest play a role?
A company trying to profit from advertising its product, for example, might very well bend the truth to meet this aim. However, a law firm concerned with protecting its reputation may not be as likely to lie for fear of losing trust.

8. Example: News Media and Politics

11. But which CHART is credible?????

12. Expertise
The amount of expertise a source has about a particular issue can contribute to its credibility. Consider a medical students over a qualified doctor. The student is not as likely to be trusted as the senior professional, because of their education level and experience in the field. Technical know-how is sometimes essential when determining how credible a source’s opinion or evidence is. If you were asked to judge an ice- skating or gymnastics competition, how would you do, based on your knowledge? If you don’t know anything about these sports you could probably give a judgement based on general observation, but you wouldn’t know what to look for when it comes to subtle techniques.
Similarly, if the author of a source has a PhD in the subject matter at hand, they are obviously more credible than a layman who is just writing about his or her own opinion.

13. Neutrality
You can learn a lot about your source by considering how neutral it is (neutral = not supporting either side). As with vested interest, a source’s bias will lead them to certain decisions on a particular issue. A source which is not neutral will be more likely to feel a certain way about a topic. Bias and vested interest are different, though: bias is built into the source’s personality, whereas vested interest is directed by something more immediate, such as a job title or financial gain. A neutral source does not include personal opinions or beliefs when reporting on an issue, but a bias source may let personal opinions affect objectivity.

14. Not sure?
If you’re ever unsure of a source in the real world, look for corroboration. Cross-check the information with another reliable source. Do some additional research to check their credibility. If there is other criticism about their work, actions, or the evidence they use to support their claims, you are most likely going to hear about it from another source, not the website itself. By ‘vetting’ your sources in this way, you are taking the RAVEN mnemonic strategy even further, now using (C)RAVEN to ensure credibility!

15. Peer Reviewed Articles
When you’re writing research papers in college, you will most likely be instructed to use only peer reviewed articles as your sources.
Essentially, peer review is an academic term for quality control. Each article published in a peer-reviewed journal was closely examined by a panel of reviewers who are experts on the article's topic (that is, the author’s professional peers…hence the term peer review). The reviewers look for proper use of research methods, significance of the paper’s contribution to the existing literature, and integration of previous authors’ work on the topic in any discussion (including citations). Papers published in these journals are expert-approved…and the most authoritative sources of information for college- level research papers.
From:

16. Peer Reviewed Articles: Sources
There are many websites with free peer-reviewed articles, and usually the websites are geared toward a particular field, such as science, mathematics, education, law, etc. JSTOR is the one I remember using frequently in college, but you need a username and password and it is not free. However, once you are in college you will be given free access to various websites, depending on your discipline.
Another hint: Websites with .edu or .gov or .org instead of .com are almost always more credible!!!

17. .com/.org/.gov/.edu
Websites with a .com extension are mostly profit-based and company-owned. The com stands for ‘commercial’.
The .org extension stands for ‘organization’. Trade groups, non-profit organizations and developers of open source software are the common groups that choose .org extensions.
The domain name .gov is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word government, indicating its restricted use by government entities.
The domain .edu is reserved for education institutions. If what you’re reading is from a department or research center at an educational institution, it can generally be taken as credible. However, students' personal Web sites are not usually monitored by the school even though they are on the school's server and use the .edu domain.