Entry 32: Use Valid, Credible Sources for Information

Just because you have located a book, article, website, or other resource on your topic, does not mean you should automatically use it in your paper or project. You need to choose your resources carefully to make sure you get the best and most useful ones.
How can you tell if the book, article, website, or other resource you located is a valid, credible source? It may be helpful for you to ask yourself six questions:

1. Who? Who is the author? What are his/her credentials?
2. What? What information is available from this resource?
3. Where? Where did the author(s) get the information? Are citations provided?
4. When? When was the resource produced? (For books, check the copyright date. For articles, check the publication date. For websites, look for a "created on" or "last updated on" date.)
5. Why? Why does this resource exist? Is the purpose to entertain, persuade, inform, etc.? Is the resource biased?
6. How? How comprehensive is the resource? Does it go into the depth you need?

Pick one of the sources you chose for your issue essay and describe it (include the citation information). Then answer the six questions above for that source. After answering the questions, do you still think it is a good source?

• The citation for one of the sources that I chose is ""Sea Species Get a Move on as Climate Change Encroaches; SOME MARINE CREATURES MAY HAVE TO ADAPT FASTER," Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales) 9 Nov. 2011: 19, Questia, Web, 23 Feb. 2012." This source is written by Western Mail from Cardiff Wales. The information from the source allows me to write about the things affected by climate change, and it also allows me to prove that climate change is not only influencing humans, but also other organisms as well. There are citations at the end of the source, as well as citations within the source itself. The source was published on November 9, 2011, and it was taken and used on February 23, 2012, through Questia for use. This resource is produced as an informational text because it is informing people about the situation with the global climate changes and its effects. The resource is very comprehensive because it goes in depth concerning the topic, giving a very diverse point of view concerning the topic and its related areas.
• The other resources are very similar in terms of the six questions - who, what, where, when, why, and how. Therefore, it can be concluded that the other sources are also quite credential.