5.1 Credibility

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Module 5: Evaluating

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5.1 Credibility

Author's Credibility

Cre·den·tials plural noun. The abilities and experience which make someone suitable for a particular job or activity, or proof of someone's abilities and experience

Cambridge Dictionaries Online, 2003

Do you believe everything you read? Knowing more about an author can help you judge her or his credibility.

Author's Credibility Self-Quiz

Instructions: If you were writing about the relationship between human activity and the temperature of the earth, whose work would you choose to include in your paper? Look for clues that suggest their level of expertise and/or bias.

a. An atmospheric physicist at Winston University and founder of the Science and Environmental Policy Project, a think tank on climate and environmental issues.

b. A Washington Post staff writer who has written articles such as "Arctic Ice Shelf Crumbles Into Sea," "In Infrastructure Debate, Politics Is Key Player," and "President's Reform Efforts Get Results."

c. Current president of Greater Chipiwick Environmental Club, and publisher of a Web site that discusses the major causes of global warming in the last 100 years.

Response:

In terms of evaluating an author, credentials include degrees received, titles held, professional affiliations, years of activity in a field, publication history, fields of inquiry, and the characteristics of publications in which their work has appeared.

Publisher's Credibility

Similar to judging an author's credentials, knowing more about a publishing company can help you understand their potential biases. Keep in mind that publishing standards vary for each publishing house. XYZ Publishing may print anything that will bring a profit, whereas H. University Press may screen all information they publish to ensure the validity of the content, protecting their reputation.

categories of publishers:

Commercial publishing houses like Macmillan, Time/Warner, or Knopf.
University Presses, like the University of Washington Press or Michigan State University Press.
Associations, societies, businesses, industries, and services that publish their own periodicals, newsletters, staff training documents, operating schedules, brochures, etc.
Governments and intergovernmental bodies, such as the United Nations.
Web publishers, which includes anyone with access to a computer network and a host computer to store and deliver their publications, including the "traditional" publishing houses.

Module 5

Learn about authors & publishers

Author

1. What are the author's credentials?

institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author's area of expertise? Use the various Who's Who publications or use online sources to help determine the author's affiliation and credentials.

2. What other works had the author written?

Search catalogs or databases. Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Respected authors are cited frequently by other scholars. For this reason, always note those names that appear in many different sources.

3. Is the author associated with a reputable institution or organization?

What are the basic values or goals of the organization or institution?

Google is good for finding author information. Try searching by the author's full name.

Publisher

Note the publisher

If the source is published by a university press, it is likely to be scholarly. Although the fact that the publisher is reputable does not necessarily guarantee quality, it does show that the publisher may have high regard for the source being published.

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Modules: 1 Information | 2 Topics | 3 Searching | 4 Locating | 5 Evaluating | 6 Sharing | 7 UI Catalog

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