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Symposium: Mini-Lesson #1 Reliability and Credibility: Can We Trust The Author and the Source of Information?

This symposium mini-lesson discusses the importance of credibility and reliability in the information we find. It explores the three types of credentials that make an author or source trustworthy and provides guidance on evaluating sources for credibility. The lesson also touches on the use of Wikipedia and the requirements for creating a bibliography.

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Symposium: Mini-Lesson #1 Reliability and Credibility: Can We Trust The Author and the Source of Information?

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  1. Symposium:Mini-Lesson #1Reliability and Credibility “Can We Trust The Author and the Source of Information?”

  2. What is Credibility? • Credibility(or reliability) is how trustworthy an author or source is. Authors that are “adequate and accurate” must use “credible” sources for information so we can believe them. • An author must have credentials to be credible.There are THREE credentials.

  3. Credibility A source or author NEEDS CREDENTIALS TO BE TRUSTWORTHY! Any website, piece of writing or interview needs to meet at least ONE of the THREE criteria to be an “expert” in what they are writing about (more is better).

  4. Three Types of Credentials • 1. Education • Author went to college/school for the topic they wrote about and can be considered an expert. • Example: Doctors go to medical school and can write about medicine. • Beware: Even if the author went to college: if he didn’t study or become an expert in what he is writing about, then you cannot trust him. Would you trust a lawyer to perform surgery? No.

  5. Three Types of Credentials • 2. Leadership • An author has a high title (CEO, President, Principal, etc) or a great deal of experience in his field and thus can be considered an expert. • Example: Principle Romanowski could write an article about Trillium Academy. • Beware: Barack Obama has great leadership and a fancy title (President of the United States) but would we trust him to write about Trillium Academy? No.

  6. Three Types of Credentials • Affiliation: • An author is associated with (spends time with) certain schools, businesses, or people enough to write about them, and thus can be considered an expert. • Example: A mother could write a book about her son. • Beware: Your next door neighbor might have a family, but would we trust an article they write about the personal life of your family? No. • Encyclopedias are written by expert researchers (even if they aren’t listed as an author) and are reliable through affiliation with the encyclopedia company.

  7. Credible or Not? The Wikipedia Question- Is Wikipedia a credible source? • Answer: While you shouldn’t cite Wikipedia as a source on your bibliography, you can (and should!) use Wikipedia to help direct your research and find further sources. • For example, if I’m searching for info on Bengal tigers, if I scroll to the bottom of the Wikipedia page, I can find over 70 links to CREDIBLE sources that I can use. Some of them are even hyperlinks to online books, magazines, scholarly articles or encyclopedias that I can view and use.

  8. How Many Sources Do I Need To Have? • freshmen= 3 • sophomores = 4 • juniors = 5 • seniors = 6 • No more than two of your sources can be from “online” sources. All other sources must be from credible books, news organizations, journals and magazines, documentaries, and interviews. • However, some online sources are actually also “print” sources. For example, you can find Scientific American online, but it counts as a print source since it’s also a magazine.

  9. What Will I Have to Turn In? • An outline- more on this in the next mini-lesson. This will prove that you did the work, and you’re not just “winging it.” It will also help you be more organized. • A Works Cited page (aka a Bibliography)- this shows you have credible sources, and you’re not just making up the info. More on this in the next slide…

  10. How Do I Create a Bibliography? • Researchers these days have it easy! • Depending on the type of source, you’ll usually need the following info on each of your sources… • Name of website/ title of source: • Name of page or story: • Web address/ city that the source is published in: • Author of this page or story: • Date I found this webpage/ year it was published/ page numbers I used: HINT: Keep an index card for each of your sources while you’re researching. It helps keep you organized, and it will make it easier for you to do your bibliography. Then…

  11. Go to… • www.bibme.org • It will look like…

  12. It is now time for your guided practice. You will travel with your desk group to the different tables, deciding whether or not the source listed at each table is CREDIBLE or NOT! Samantha is excited about her source for her research paper. She is writing about diamond mining and found an encyclopedia article about diamond mines in the Encyclopedia Britannica book in the library. The article does not have an author, but describes all the different kinds of mines and their locations. It even talks about mines that have colored diamonds, including green, her favorite. She is definitely going to use this article as a source. Is this credible?

  13. Then… • Just follow the directions on the screen (depending on what type of resource it is), and it will create your Bibliography for you (with just the right formatting!) • HINT: Choose the APA style formatting for your symposium project. Someday, your college professors may ask you to use another kind, but APA is a good one to practice with.

  14. Coming Attractions… • Next mini-lessons • Creating an outline for organization • Presentation skills for a stellar symposium

  15. Practice Makes Perfect • Try out www.bibme.org • Handouts 1 and 2 can help you keep track of your research.

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