Evaluating Sources [Activity]
Kimberly Stelly
Directions
Use an article* and the internet to answer the following questions. Doing so will help determine if the article is a reliable source.
*Note to the instructor: Model with an example article published in the last year.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this activity, students will
- evaluate the reliability of a source by assessing the credibility and objectivity of its author, research methods and sources, publishing source and date, and more.
Questions of Reliability
- Who wrote the article? Is the author an authority or expert on the topic they have written about? Is the author connected with a well-known source? How does this person establish ethos (credibility)?
- Who is this article written for? Who is the specific audience? Is it the general public? How do you know? What is the author’s purpose: to persuade, inform, entertain, etc.?
- What kind of research did the author do to write this article? Look for references to other entities. Does the author refer to a specific person or group of people? Identify these sources. Are the sources cited? Are links provided? Double-check the author’s sources. Are those sources reliable? How do you know?
- How objective is your author? Are they fair or biased? Include specific textual evidence to convey the author’s bias.
- What is the date of the publication? Identify the publication information. Is the publication well-known? Explain why this publication should or should not be trusted.
- What is your overall impression or evaluation of the article? Is this a reliable source? Is the information credible? Explain your answers.
- Explain why and how you would or would not use this article.
Downloadable Resources (Activity)
Click here to download a Word doc of this activity:
Attribution:
Stelly, Kimberly. “Evaluating Sources [Activity].” Strategies, Skills and Models for Student Success in Writing and Reading Comprehension. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. This work is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
