_Credibility Chart
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Credibility Chart
Sebastian Blalock
American Public University
BUSN410: Critical Thinking Strategies for Business Decisions
Prof. Aristotle Katopodis
9 MAR 2024
2
Credibility Chart
As we, as a society, become more and more dependent on technology for use in our daily lives it is becoming easier to read and see information that is inherently false or intentionally misleading in order to sway the opinion and critical thinking skills of the individual retrieving that information. The recent introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from applications on our cell phones and ease of access to them has begun to play a larger role in overall credibility of information and imagery within the mainstream news outlets and other sources of news. This tends to force the reader to dive deeper into a topic for accurate and unbiased information, however the time to conduct that research for the average person is almost nonexistent or the reader simply takes the misleading information at face value and treats it as fact when there may be a hidden agenda or message within the source that will purposefully include verbiage to cause the reader to think about the topic in a certain way. In an effort to combat this there are ten elements that can be introduced to the reader to assist in
the identification and determination of the credibility of data within any reading and resource.
Table
Criteria for Determination of Credibility
Element
Importance
Author Credentials
Locating the author’s credentials will
determine if the author has any subject
matter expertise to the opinions they may
give and provide credibility to the statements
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they make with their writing. The authors
that have little to no experience with their
topic will weaken their overall argument and
claims.
Reputation
The reputation of the author can provide
context to whether the author should be
trusted with the information that they give to
the reader in the first place. Repeated issues
with validity and with an author should
indicate that the credibility of their work is
subpar and dishonest.
Date of Publication
Locating the date that the reading was
published and if that source is outdated or up
to date with the most accurate information
and data.
Citation of Sources
A strong indicator of a valid argument to a
topic is the outside sources that are used.
The sources should be listed and must
include peer reviewed papers that eliminate
the possibility of bias or inaccuracies that can
occur with op-ed pieces. Error rate
Issues with grammar, spelling, and format
can all indicate the overall credibility of the
source. Smaller errors may be irrelevant,
however consistent grammatical issues,
formatting, and other pertinent issues should
be a warning to the reader that the
information may be bias and degrades the
credibility.
Expert Consensus
External research will most likely be required
for this to be truly effective for the reader,
however looking at what experts have to say
about a given topic rather than taking what
an author writes at face value will highlight
inaccuracies within an article. Going the extra
mile and reviewing what the experts in a
related field to a topic will also provide
additional context for the reader.
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Source Consistency
The source consistency refers to the
references that the author utilized for
research within their article. If an article lists
sources that are irrelevant to the topic
they’re writing about then the information
given will likely be inaccurate. To this, if the
references are not from a verified source,
then this could be indicative of biases within
the writing.
Website Domain
The domain that the resource is published in
can indicate inaccuracies before the reader
begins looking into it. A website domain such
as “.net” is indicative of weak arguments or
personal opinions rather than vetted
domains such as a “.gov” or “.edu” domains.
Author’s Affiliation
An author with certain affiliations has the
possibility to push their views through their
reading. Additionally, certain types of
affiliations may discredit arguments made or
highlight biases and make their writing seem
irrelevant to the topic.
Transparency
Determining the actual transparency of an
article is the biggest indicator of bias. An
author should be upfront about the intent
and goal of the article and should not hide a
hidden message within their writing. The
bottom-line up-front method is one of the
most effective at displaying transparency in a
writing by telling the reader in an
introduction of the end state or take aways
that their writing should have on the reader.
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References Academia-Research. (2014, July 22). Credible/non-credible sources. Retrieved from Academia Research:https://www.academia-research.com/freelance-writing/crediblenon-crediblesources/
Buttram, C., MacMillan, D., & Thompson, L. (2012, November). Source Credibility: How To Select The Best Sources. Retrieved from UNA Center for Writing Excellence: https://www.una.edu/writingcenter/docs/Writing-Resources/Source%20Credibility.pdf BYU Library. (2020, February 24). Step-by-Step Guide & Research Rescue: Evaluating Credibility. Retrieved from BYU Library: https://guides.lib.byu.edu/c.php?g=216340&p=1428399 Reyes, K. (2019, August 20). A Guide for Determining Source Credibility. Retrieved from Lexis Nexus: https://www.lexisnexis.com/communities/lexisnexis_biz/b/bizblog/archive/2019/08/20/
a-guide for-determining-source-credibility.aspx