Website Credibility

I learned several important lessons from this article on using websites as sources.

First, it may be useful to use the websites of special interest groups, but both the writer and the reader need to be aware of those sites’ inherent biases. These kinds of sites may not show all of the information about a certain subject, especially if that information makes them look bad. It is often in these sites’ best interest to keep some things hidden.

However, there is an advantage to special interest sites. Because they are specifically for or against a particular idea or thing, their bias is on display, so writers do not have to search hard to find it.

It is also important to be sure of the credibility of your sources. Sources that are now old could once have been authoritative, but may now be too outdated to use. One should also look into the authority of the actual author.

It’s good to check and see if the author of a source has any peer reviewed articles published. This can help add to their credibility. Additionally, making sure that the author is an appropriate authority on a subject is important.

Even journalistic websites are not to be taken at face value. Any person can put out their own “news.” Sites with ISSN numbers are more likely to be authoritative than sites without.