

Most books you find in library nonfiction are
credible.
Most large newspapers are credible.
◦ New York Times
◦ Washington Post

Scholarly journals are usually credible.
◦ JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)


Most government publications are credible.
Reputable organizations are usually credible.
◦ American Cancer Society
◦ American Red Cross
◦ World Health Organization

Most information from colleges is credible.
◦ .edu websites
 You
can automatically rule out:
• Wikipedia
• Facebook
• Blogs
• Personal sites
 Ways
to tell a credible internet source:
• Looks professional
 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 2000 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
 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
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

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 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”.

Voila! Your citation is written.