Examples of Unreliable Sources:Various social media sites (Facebook, blogs, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc). As mentioned above, these can be written and published online by anyone. Websites and blogs with news that is based on opinion (Medium, Natural News). These websites have articles that are written by ordinary people.
Only credible, scholarly material is included in Google Scholar, according to the inclusion criteria: “content such as news or magazine articles, book reviews, and editorials is not appropriate for Google Scholar.” Technical reports, conference presentations, and journal articles are included, as are links to Google
What sources can be considered as credible?
- materials published within last 10 years;
- research articles written by respected and well-known authors;
- websites registered by government and educational institutions (. gov, . edu, .
- academic databases (i.e. Academic Search Premier or JSTOR);
- materials from Google Scholar.
It is important to use credible sources in an academic research paper because your audience will expect you to have backed up your assertions with credible evidence. Using evidence that does not come from a credible source of information will not convince your reader that your claim is plausible or even correct.
If a source is reasonable, we know the information offered is fair, balanced, easy to believe, and consistent.
- Five Criteria for Evaluating Websites.
- Accuracy. The sources for factual information presented on the site should be listed so that.
- Authority. Can you tell who is responsible for the information and what credentials they.
- Bias / Objectivity.
- Coverage.
- Currency.
How to Evaluate Websites: How to evaluate websites
- CURRENCY: the timeliness of the information.
- RELEVANCE: the importance of the information for your needs.
- AUTHORITY: the source of the information.
- ACCURACY: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content.
- PURPOSE: the reason the information exists.
Where should you look to determine the accuracy of a source?
- Read the source's reference list (if available)
- Find out more about the publisher, journal, etc.
- Examine source in full text (PDF or original print is preferable) for errors, organization, opinions, etc.
Recommended credible news sources
| News source | Main topics |
|---|
| The New York Times | News on business, politics and culture |
| The Wall Street Journal | News on general topics and business |
| The Washington Post | General news |
| BBC | General news |
Credible reasoning is sincere, but not necessarily accurate. False statements demonstrate an error in reasoning.
Wikipedia is not a reliable source for citations elsewhere on Wikipedia. Because it can be edited by anyone at any time, any information it contains at a particular time could be vandalism, a work in progress, or just plain wrong. Wikipedia generally uses reliable secondary sources, which vet data from primary sources.
adjective. capable of being believed; believable: a credible statement. worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a credible witness.
Examine each information source you locate and assess sources using the following criteria:
- Timeliness. Your resources need to be recent enough for your topic.
- Authority. Does the information come from an author or organization that has authority to speak on your topic?
- Audience.
- Relevance.
- Perspective.
The most common credible sources are scholarly journals, conference papers and books because these have been peer-reviewed (read and approved for publication by other authors). However, there are good websites that can be used; generally ending in . gov / . edu / .