Justify Your Source

• Where is it published? What do you know about the publication / website? What are organizational goals of the publisher?
• Who is the author? What qualifies them to write this? What is their educational background and work experience?
• What information is cited? Who is quoted or referenced in the article? What sources were used? How much evidence is factual? How much content is opinion-based?
• What is the purpose and audience? Why was the source written and for whom? Is it intended to inform, teach, entertain, or persuade? Is language used emotionally charged or professional?

See also: CRAAP Test

• #Parkland rumor rundown (News Literacy Project)
• Stanford scholars observe 'experts' to see how they evaluate the credibility of information online: American Academy of Pediatrics vs. American College of Pediatrics

• You are always making decisions about what information to trust, even if you're just looking for something to buy on Amazon or a place to eat on Yelp.
• In the past, there was advice to trust websites based on their domain extensions (e.g., .edu sites). But, on a .edu site, you may encounter both a professor's research article and a student's op-ed piece.
• Sometimes there will be advice to never use blogs. But, while there are blogs created by elementary students for school projects, there are also high quality blogs maintained by academics and professionals.
• Therefore, rather than prescribing exactly what sources you may and may not use, your challenge is to carefully evaluate sources that you find when searching, and then pick the best one to use for your paper.
• Use the form below to defend that best information source you pick as your 3rd source.