Why Should I Take this Author Seriously?
Students, you are information consumers! Before the Web, you had help in selecting information. Publishers, editors, librarians and teachers contributed to ensuring the information you used was of high quality. In the self-publishing environment of the Web, you need to be a careful consumer. You want to be sure the sources you use are credible.
Remember the old saying: "Garbage in, garbage out!"
If you are unsure of an author's credentials, you might have difficulty defending use of his or her work in your documentation. Your teacher is likely to question you if you quote an expert who is unknown. Do a little legwork before you complete your project. If you run into any trouble at all finding sources, consult with your librarian!
Consider:
- Searching the Web for the author's resume or C.V. (curriculum vita or vitae). A C.V. is a more formal, usually lengthier, resume format, written by people in academic, research, or scientific environments. C.V.s generally include lists of publications presentations, professional activities and honors. If you cannot find a resume or C.V., at very least look for evidence of a university affiliation, or association with a major organization.
- Searching biographical reference tools--Gale Biographies --in print or online, is extremely comprehensive and covers writers in all fields of knowledge from antiquity to modern day. Phone your nearest large public library and ask the reference librarian to check the Who's Who reference books in the appropriate subject area.
- Searching for news of them in a periodical database. Try using their names as keywords in sources like ELibrary, Infotrac, FirstSearch
- Doing a "link check". In either AltaVista or Google, perform the following search <link:yoururl>. Your results will show who else has linked to the page you are evaluating. Would the pages that link to your page be considered reputable? Do they review or annotate the page you are examining?
- Checking to see if your page appears in a selective subject directory. For instance, has the page been included in Librarians' Index to the Internet?
- Examining the URL. Though there is no "etched in stone" rule, you can be guided by an address. A site ending in .gov is likely to be a reliable government site. A site ending in .org may be the work of a respected organization. A site ending in .edu might be created by a university, or a college or K-12 student. Sites which include a "~" are generally personal sites. While they may be appropriate for serious research, they are just as likely to be the product of a student (or faculty member) of a reliable institution who has a lot of free time!
- Truncating the URL, if no affiliation is available on the page you are examining. Your goal is to try to get to the "root" page that might contain information "about this site" or "about the author".
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Education
- Does the person have an advanced degree? Is the degree related to the page you are evaluating? A professor of physics, may not have particular expertise writing about the Holocaust.
- Are there impressive letters after his/her name--Ph.D? Ed. D?
- Is there evidence that the author is involved in significant research? Are there other studies by this author on the Web or in print?
- What evidence is offered of his or her knowledge? Be suspect if the page lists no educational credentials.
- How well documented is the work they are presenting?
- Be skeptical. Remember, everyone has a bias.
Experience
- How many years has the author been writing, teaching, studying, or researching?
- How active have they been in their area of speciality? Have others mentioned or cited them? (You might find this information in a Web search.)
- Can you find other respected or scholarly publications they have written?
- Do they offer any first-hand, primary source-type experiences? A soldier present during the D-Day invasion would not have to have a university degree to offer important perspective on the event your are studying!
- Is the person active in the area of study? If you are researching the Olympic Games, a page written by a noted gymnast, runner, boxer, or skater, might have great value.
- Be skeptical. Remember, everyone has a bias.
Affiliation/Reputation
- What is the author's institutional or business affiliation? What title do they hold?
- Is the page sponsored by an organization?
- Is the person involved with a university? Is it one you have heard of? Does it matter if they are involved with a major university or a community college?
- Is this person well known?
- In what type of journal is their work published? Popular? Trade? Scholarly? Peer reviewed?
- What do others say about them? Has their work been reviewed or criticized?
- Is their involvement commercial? Someone representing Philip Morris might attack the issue of smokers' rights in a way quite different from a representative of the American Cancer Society?
- Be skeptical. Remember, everyone has a bias.
This page was adopted from Joyce Valenza's Why Should I Take this Author Seriously?
Please also refer to the information about web site evaluation in our Research Project Guide.
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