Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 1
Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 2
Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 3
Is it credible?

Main purpose is to express information (often about art, science, or society)

Examples: news articles, digital websites, nonfiction books, textbooks

Alli Lindner 4
Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 5
Is it credible?

Literary nonfiction: Essays, speeches, biographies, memoirs, journalism,

opinion pieces, historical accounts, etc. Written for a broad audience (not
experts).
Information is accurate
Clear beginning, middle, and end (clear organization)
Expository: Readers can use table of contents or index to skip around to parts
of the text they want/need to read. No need to read the entire book in order.
Structures: description, cause/effect, compare/contrast,
problem/solution, question/answer, temporal…

Alli Lindner 6
Is it credible?

Argument/persuasion: Give evidence to influence audience’s beliefs/actions.

Make a claim.
Appeal to audience’s logic, emotions, and/or ethics
Procedural: Step-by-step guides for how to complete a task. Often include
illustrations.

Alli Lindner 7
Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 8
Is it credible?

Credibility: Can be relied upon for accurate information. Can be trusted and believed.
Backed up by factual, reliable evidence.
NOT just our opinion or thoughts
NOT based on one individual’s experience

Alli Lindner 9
Is it credible?

If you wanted to learn more about

climate change, who/what would be
the most credible (accurate,
trustworthy, believable, reliable)
source for information? Justify your
answer.
An 8th grade science student
A 10th grade science student

Alli Lindner 10
A stranger on social media
Your science textbook
The person reporting this week’s weather on
Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 11
Is it credible?

As a READER, we want to have accurate information when we are learning about a

topic and forming our opinions
Example: We trust our science textbook to give us accurate information about
climate change. We cannot necessarily trust a science student, a stranger on
social media, or the weather reporter. Our goal is to get accurate information,
not random information.
Example: Pretend it’s time to vote for a student for class president. The
candidates are Tyra and Ryan. You hear a rumor that Ryan has been stealing
6th graders’ lunch money! Is a rumor a credible source of information? Will
you base your voting decision on this rumor?

Alli Lindner 12
Is it credible?

If we are writing a research paper, we want accurate information so our readers know
they can trust us and believe us
High-quality papers (that earn an A!) have information from credible sources
If you are making an argument/claim, we use credible sources so our audience knows
that we are also credible and trustworthy—they are more likely to agree with our
argument if they can trust us!

Alli Lindner 13
Is it credible?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLTOVoHbH5c&t=99s

Alli Lindner 14
Is it credible?

AUTHOR
Who are they? What is their background (education, career, experiences)?
Are they an expert on this topic? Have they written about this topic more
than once?
Do they refer to other credible sources? (We should have a chain of credible
sources)
Are the author’s prejudices, opinions, politics, goals, etc. affecting what they
are saying?

Alli Lindner 15
Is it credible?

PUBLISHER
Where was the text published?
By a well-known book publisher?
By an academic journal that published peer-reviewed research
articles?
By a neutral newspaper?
On the author’s personal website?
On Twitter?

Alli Lindner 16
Is it credible?

PUBLISHER
Where was the text published?
By a well-known book publisher?
By an academic journal that published peer-reviewed research
articles?
By a neutral newspaper?
On the author’s personal website?
On Twitter?
Is the text sponsored?
Imagine reading a news article that says: “Ariana Grande is running for
president and she is the best candidate!” If you find out that Ariana
Grande paid for that article’s endorsement, then the article is not a
credible source of reliable information.

Alli Lindner 17
Is it credible?

BIAS
Is the information based on facts or emotions?
Is the text trying to give you information or to persuade you?
Are there advertisements? Is someone making money off of you reading this
text (or doing what the text wants you to do)?
Why was this text written?

Alli Lindner 18
Is it credible?

CURRENT
Is the source updated and current? When was this text written?
Older texts might be outdated

Alli Lindner 19
Is it credible?

NYT article is credible (credible author and publisher, links to other credible sources,
unbiased, current as of June 2019).
Wikipedia is not a credible source because the authors are anonymous. However, it
does link to other sources that may be credible.
“5 Tips” is not credible because it is sponsored, the author has no background or
expert status, and the author is biased

Alli Lindner 20
Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 21
Is it credible?

Alli Lindner 22