Evaluating claims you find on web sites: B. Authority

If so, they will have . . .

• examined current, relevant data and published studies.
• used appropriate, tested methods to investigate the claim.
• acquired expertise in analyzing and interpreting these data.
• made a well-reasoned argument.
• minimized the chances of making errors.

The best question to ask yourself before borrowing a source's claim:

• How, exactly, does the author of this source know the claim is true?

Now, try the questions.

Is the author of the source the same person who is making the claim?

• Or is the author citing another person's claim? If so, find the original source and cite it. 
• If no author is given, look at the parent publication (magazine, web site, etc.) for clues.

Tips for web pages

• For the author's name, look at the top or bottom of the text.
• If a person is not named, the author may be the web site's sponsoring organization.
• Sometimes, no one seems responsible for the claims. Avoid citing this kind of source!
• Do a lateral search to see what web sites say about your author.
  • Do a web search, using quotations marks:
    • "Insurance Institute for Highway Safety"
    • "E. O. Wilson"
  • Open some of the search results. 
  • This may help you spot an unreliable (fake news) site.
  • Learn about your author's credentials. See the box below.

Credentials may include:

• Academic degrees (in relevant disciplines)
• Academic affiliations (positions at colleges or universities; memberships in scholarly organizations)
• Publications (articles or books by the author)
• Awards
• For non-academic authors, look at their relevant experience and accomplishments.

How well do the author's credentials match the claim?

Tips for web pages

• Academic degrees or affiliations might be listed near the author's name.
• Also check the end of the article.
• Look for links like this:  About Us   Contact Us  (usually found on the site's home page)
• Search the author's name in the site's search box, or in Google.

Different claims require different kinds of data.

• Claim: In 2005 the government seized 6.9 million pounds of marijuana.
• Data: Law enforcement statistics from government sources

• Claim: Smoking marijuana during pregnancy reduces oxygen flow to the fetus.
• Data: Experimental results from various medical disciplines, published in scholarly journals

Timeliness matters--in some cases more than others.

• When was the source published?  
• Did the authors study current data and events?
• Consider your specific claim. 
  • Medical science advances quickly, so current information is essential.
  • When you study history or literature, timeliness is less important.

Serious authors cite their sources.

• When authors formally cite sources, they expose themselves to scrutiny and correction from readers. Because of this, these authors try to avoid mistakes.
• If authors make a claim without citing a source, we expect them to prove the claim is true. If no proof is offered, we ask ourselves, "How do they know this claim is true?" Perhaps they don't.
• Before serious authors cite a source, they will evaluate the source's credibility first. As readers, we rely upon the good judgment of authors; we can't evaluate every cited source for ourselves. Because of this, the reputation of the author is crucial to the credibility of a source.
• Another safeguard is the peer review process, which tests the quality of most scholarly articles before they are published.

Tips for web pages

• The easiest way to cite a web source is to give a link to it. But a link is not enough!
  • Online newspapers, magazines, and blogs often just give links to sources. But when the links go dead, so do their citations.
  • Academic writing requires formal citations for web sources. This adds to the credibility of academic writing, and it ensures future researchers can track down their original sources.
• Library databases provide citations for their articles!

Go to the next tab: Bias