Credentials
To consider how reputable the author is, ask yourself the following questions:
What is the author’s educational background?
What has the author written in the past about this topic?
Why or how is the person considered an expert?
You can check The Library of Congress to see what else the person has
written, and Book Review Index and Book Review Digest
may lead you to reviews of other books by this person. Your library
may have citation indexes that can also lead you to articles and other
shorter pieces. For biographical information, read Who’s Who
in America or the Biography Index. There may also be information
in the publication such as previous writings, awards, and notes about
the author. Your goal is to get some sense of who this person is and
why it’s worth reading what that person wrote.
References
Did a teacher or librarian or some other person who is knowledgeable
about the topic mention this person?
Did you see the name listed in other sources?
When someone is an authority, you may find other references to this
person. That is not a guarantee that the person is reputable, but it
does indicate a reason to think the person is worth reading. If you
are seeking viewpoints on a subject, it is useful to read this person’s
writing because you should be aware of various views and perspectives
on many sides of an issue.
Institution
What organization, institution, or company is the person associated
with?
What are the goals of the institution or organization?
Does it monitor what’s published? How rigorous is that review
process?
Might this group be biased in some way? That is, are they trying
to sell yousomething or convince you to accept their view? Do they
do disinterested research? (Don’t be convinced by the name of
the organization because some disguise their agenda by selecting a
name that does not indicate what their real goals are.)
Who produced or published the material?
Is the publisher reputable? For example, a university press or a
government agency is likely to be a reputable source that reviews
what it publishes. That helps to ensure some quality control over
the material.
Is the group recognized in the field as being an authority?
Is the publisher likely to be an appropriate one for this kind of
information? Or might the publisher or group have a particular bias
on this topic? (For example, if you are looking at a Web site for
a particular candidate for office, is the site sponsored by people
trying to elect that person or opponents of that candidate?)
Is there any sort of review process or fact checking? (If a pharaceutical
company publishes data on a new drug it is developing, has there been
outside review of the data?)
Can you tell from the title (and perhaps the publisher) who the intended
audience is?
Is there a point of view being promoted? Sometimes, sources of information
are really infommercials promoting the cause or product or bias of
a particular group.
Might the material be too scholarly, too specialized, or too popular
to be useful to you? (A three-volume study on gene splitting may be
more than you need for a five-page paper on a particular genetically
transmitted disease. But a half-page article on a visit to Antarctica
won’t tell you much about research into ozone depletion going
on there.)
