Don’t Listen to the Village Idiot
Definition:
1.capable of being believed; believable: a
credible statement.
2.worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy: a
credible witness.
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Credibility is important!
◦ If your research is flawed, so is your argument.
◦ If you use credible sources, you can believe them,
and your readers can believe you.
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Most books you find in library nonfiction are credible.
Most large newspapers are credible.
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Scholarly journals and magazines are usually credible.
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◦ New York Times
◦ Sacramento Bee
◦ L.A. Times
o Scientific American
o National Geographic
o Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change
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Most government publications are credible.
Reputable organizations are usually credible.
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Most information from colleges is credible.
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◦ NASA
◦ USGS
◦ .edu websites
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You can automatically rule out:
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Wikipedia
Myspace
Geocities
Blogs
Friendster
Personal sites
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The internet offers the BEST information on
MANY topics.
The internet offers the WORST information on
MOST topics.
You can use internet resources for research
papers, but you have to be careful.
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Ways to tell a credible internet source:
◦ Looks professional
 The website doesn’t look like it was made by a 4year-old with a crayon
 All or most links are working
◦ Information offered is easy to verify
 The website offers links to where they found their
information
 The sources of their information is also credible
◦ It is easy to contact the owners of the website for
more information or to ask questions
◦ The site is up to date
 Information from 1991 is not listed as “recent”
◦ There are no errors
 The site uses proper spelling and grammar
◦ The website is appropriate
 There is no inappropriate language, graphics, or
photos
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These guidelines are not 100%
When in doubt, ask for help from a teacher or
librarian
If you’re still not sure, DON’T use it
Be careful with .com sites
◦ All .com sites are trying to sell something, which
means they are all biased in some way
◦ Sites with lots of advertisements are usually less
credible
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If you use ANY information from a source in your
paper, you must CITE it.
◦ Works Cited Page
◦ In-Text Citations
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If you didn’t say it yourself and you don’t cite it,
it is plagiarism.
Plagiarism can result in:
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A zero for the assignment
A requirement to redo the entire assignment
In college, plagiarism may fail you for an entire course
In college, plagiarism may result in expulsion, with no
tuition refund
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Citation makers will write your works cited
page for you if you have the right information
on your sources
Books, articles, and websites are all cited
differently
The more information you have, the better
When you find a source that you think you
can use, you need to make sure you have
several things
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Your checklist:
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Author
Title
Publication company
Publication location
Publication date
Page numbers
Date accessed online
Editor
ENTIRE web address
You might not always be able to find all of
this information, but get as much as you can.
Go to Son of Citation Machine
http://citationmachine.net/
 Click on “MLA” at the top left of the page.
 Click on the type of source you want to cite.
 Fill in the boxes for your source.
 Click “Submit”.
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Voila! Your citation is written.