CRAAP Test: Authority

You wouldn't ask your doctor how to fix a leaky sink, and you wouldn't ask your plumber about your rash, right?

In our daily life, we always ask experts about our problems. So, how can we make sure that when we read things online we're reading articles written by knowledgeable authors?

In this Byte, you'll learn some tips for evaluating the authority of a source.

Why? So that you don't wind up reading, 'How to fix a leaky sink' written by someone whose never even seen a leaky sink!

The first thing you want to do is find out who the author is. Sometimes there are multiple authors, or an organization is the author.

Most of the time the author can be found somewhere in the article.

If there is no author, then use website where you found the article. This will at least give you something to go on.

For step 2, we want to research the author.

A website might put the credentials of the author in the article. Don't trust that. That's like trusting someone's social media profile: it's probably not an honest assessment.

Instead, research the author/organization and website. Wikipedia is a good start. Use Google if they don't have a Wikipedia page.

Look for:

• Criticisms

• Credentials

• Awards

• Legal cases

• Controversies

• Other important information

We want to find out what other people think about the author/website/organization

Watch this video for a short example:

Now that you know who the author is and what other people say about them, you can ask yourself, 'Is this author/website/organization trustworthy?'

If you're not sure, head back to Step 2 and read more reviews and do more research.

Hopefully, this process will have revealed whether the author is actually an authority on the subject or not, whether they are well regarded in their field, or whether they have been accused of spreading misinformation before.

You have to use your judgement here: There are no hard and fast rules. Do the research and decide whether you should trust the author.

You decided that the author and article are trustworthy. Great!

Do other experts agree?

Find a couple other articles that deal with the same subject to see if there is agreement. A good expert will have an opinion that other experts agree with, or at least respect.

Sometimes there is quite a bit of debate around your topic, and maybe you can't find a consensus. That's ok: a good debate will have authors engage with each others' ideas and have people on both sides.

What you're looking out for is when the majority of experts seem to disagree with your initial article.

If you can find other sources that agree with your initial article, then that's a good indication that you've found a trustworthy author!

If everyone else seems to disagree, that should make you wonder whether the author in question is trustworthy.

We are often trusted by our friends, family and coworkers.

So we want to make sure that when we share ideas and articles, those articles come from good sources.

No one wants to spread misinformation!

If you practice your research skills, you can make sure you won't get tricked by misleading information.