Reference no: EM132230651
How reliable is the information? Who is the author or institution?
In this essay you are required to discuss the five(5) guidelines you can use to help check the reliability of any information that you can use as references in your assignments for all courses.
For each of the guidelines that you discuss, provide one example of a reliable source and include a short description of two (2) to three (3) sentences to indicate why you say it is deemed to be reliable.
Your answer must have an introduction and a conclusion.
It is important for you to cite and quote appropriately. Remember to list your sources on the References Page at the end of your essay. You must have at least 2 in-text citations and references for this question. Use the Chicago Style of referencing the 5 guideline list as below,
1. Who is the author or institution?
a. If the author is a person, does the resource give biographical information about him, such as educational and other credentials, position, institutional affiliation, and street address? (sometimes an e-mail address is not enough.)
b. If the author is an institution, is there information provided about it, such as the purpose and history of the institution, in addition to a street address?
c. The URL can give clues to the authority of a source. A tilde ‘ ~ ’ (pronounced as Till — Day) in the URL usually indicates that it is a personal page rather than part of an institutional Website. Some users often keep personal or business Web pages on a server under their personal home directory, you will often see the tilde as part of Web addresses. Also, make a mental note of the domain section of the URL (see table below).
Educational (anything from serious research to student pages) .gov governmental (usually dependable) .com commercial (may be trying to sell a product) .net network (may provide services to commercial or individual customers) .org organisation (non-profit institutions; may be biased)
d. If the page is part of a larger institution’s website, is the information provided put through some screening process or filtered before it is put on the Web?
2. How current is the information?
a. Is there a date on the web page that indicates when the page was placed on the Web?
b. Is it clear when the page was last updated?
c. Is some/any of the information obviously out-of-date?
3. Who is the audience?
a. Is the web page intended for the general public, scholars, practitioners, children, etc.? Is this clearly stated?
b. Does the web page meet the needs of its stated audience?
4. Is the content accurate and objective?
a. Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, or institutional biases?
b. Is the content just a brief overview of the information or an in-depth analysis?
c. If the information is the author’s opinion, is it clearly stated?
d. If there is information copied from other sources, is it acknowledged? Are there footnotes?
5. What is the purpose of the information?
a. Is the purpose of the information to inform, explain, persuade, market a product, or advocate a cause?
b. Is the purpose clearly stated?
c. Does the resource fulfill the stated purpose?