Transcript Reliability checks

Reliability checks
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Type of Questions which usually begins with:
“Can you trust Source A…”
“Do you believe what Source A says…”
“Which source is more reliable…”
• How?
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Look for things such as:
Provenance and origin of the source
Source Type
Tone of the source
Content in the source
• Look at Point of View
• “I think it is true that…”
• Does the author have a bias?
–Does the author want to influence you,
the reader, to have a similar viewpoint
as his?
–Is the author connected with certain
groups, associations or organizations?
–Does the author’s connection with this
certain group appear to influence the
information?
• Look at the purpose
–To what audience is the author
addressing?
–Do the materials inform? Explain?
Persuade?
–Is there sufficient material to support
it?
–What conclusions are drawn?
–Is the information covered fact,
opinion, or propaganda?
• Comparing with other sources
–Look at other sources in the set. What
do they say? Do they agree or disagree
with what the source is saying? If they
disagree, does it mean one of the
sources is lying?
–What other source is like this one?
–What other sources might help answer
our questions about this one?
• Evaluate based on what you do
know about the issue or event
–What else do we need to know in
order to understand the evidence
in the source?
–Using contextual knowledge on
what you know about the event.
• Coming to a conclusion
–Weigh all the factors as stated and
make a conclusion on the degree of
reliability of the source.
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Some suggestions on how to start the answer
“Source A is reliable to a certain extent…”
“Source B is more reliable…”
“It is obvious that the source…”