ENGL302 Advanced Research Writing and Presenting Week 3 Lecture Evaluating Credibility Lesson 1 Importance of Credibility Last week we discussed how to start searching for credible resources and why it was important to use resources that were legitimate This week we re going to dive into what exactly credibility is We ll also look at how to determine credibility so you can assess the resources you find for yourself To start off we re going to look at why credibility is so important especially for persuasive arguments We ll continue to look at what credibility means in the scope of research and how you can ensure you are using credible facts to back up your argument for maximum appeal with your audience What is Credibility Before you can start to determine if a resource is credible you have to consider what credibility actually is Credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed in or the quality of being convincing or believeable Credibility 2019 In essence credibility is the essential component that will tell your reader that your argument is not just opinion it is a reasoned researched issue to consider By using credible facts in your argument your audience can change their view from why should I believe you to oh maybe that s something to consider When you think about credibility consider what would make you trust in a source Imagine you are looking for information on the proper nutrition for a teenager Are you more likely to trust a well organized website or one that is filled with advertisements Do you think a science book from the 1970s is more accurate or a book from last year Will you look for an author with a degree in medicine or nutrition or one who has a degree in criminal justice These are all things that you should consider when thinking about credibility Some important factors you should look at include The author The publisher The publication date The writing quality The organization of the source Supporting documentation The web domain As you can see there are many things that affect a resource s credibility and overall quality It takes time to assess a resource s credibility and usefulness for your persuasive argument Controversial Issues and Credibility Credibility is important for every research project and subject However credibility is especially important when you are discussing controversial topics Controversial topics often involve emotion opinion and persuasion This means that facts tend to be overshadowed by feelings This can cause miscommunication and misunderstanding when trying to discuss these topics civilly Using credible resources can help to demonstrate your point while remaining respectful and calm Credible resources also show your audience that you are serious about your stance and have taken the time to back up your claims with more than opinion ENGL302 Week 3 Lecture 2 While credible resources are imperative when trying to persuade someone on a controversial issue they can be very hard to find Because these topics tend to evoke a lot of feelings and opinions resources must be evaluated for common issues such as bias inaccurate information and a lack of supporting resources These issues are especially common online where people may make posts or articles about hot button issues to get views and clicks These articles rely on sensationalism rather than fact instead skewing information to make the article clickable These types of sources will feature information that is dramatic and emotional hoping to shock the reader into reading and sharing the post In these cases this information cannot be fact checked or verified Check out this infographic for some of the other issues to look out for when starting your research ENGL302 Week 3 Lecture Check Your Knowledge 1 3 1 A source can be credible if it is overtly biased False 2 Credibility is the quality of being convincing or believable True 3 What are things you can check for credibility a Author information b Publication date c Website domain d Writing Quality e All of the above E Lesson 2 Evaluating Resources By now you should be aware of how important it is to evaluate a resource s credibility before you use it in your argument Evaluating your sources will ensure you are only using truthful and relevant information in your argument whether it s a persuasive essay or a formal presentation However as you may have noticed there are a lot of different criteria to look at when you are evaluating a source for its credibility and usefulness In this lesson we ll go over a simple method of evaluating sources and how you can use it for your own research purposes We will also take a look at a sample source so you can see the process for yourself The C R A A P Test If you are looking for an easy to remember method of evaluating sources go no further than the C R A A P test With a simple system and a catchy name learning this method of evaluation can help you spend less time sorting through resources to find which ones are suitable for your needs Before we can get started it s important to go over what C R A A P stands for Currency Relevance Authority Accuracy Purpose Each letter stands for something you should always evaluate when you are looking for credibility in a source These five factors will give you a great overview of of a resource s quality and can be done fairly quickly For more detail let s look at this infographic with sample questions you can ask to assess each section ENGL302 Week 3 Lecture 4 ENGL302 Week 3 Lecture 5 Applying the C R A A P Test The starter questions in the infographic should give you an idea of what you are looking for in each section of the C R A A P test To break things down further we ll look at each letter individually and see what makes a resource credible Currency is the first letter When looking at this step see the publication date of the source If it includes research you should consider when the research took place as well This is important because information can become outdated over time The more recent your source is the more likely it will have accurate information Some topics may especially rely on currency such as information technology The second step is assessing relevance This step will involve you evaluating a source s connections to your topic and audience For example if you are writing a guide for research professionals a social media post or account would not be relevant or appropriate On the opposite side if you are writing to the general public