Reliable Sources

What are reliable sources? A reliable source is one that provides a thorough, well-reasoned theory, argument, discussion, etc. based on strong evidence. There are many types of reliable sources and you may be able to think of one right now that is similar to you that you always go back to that you trust. Some examples of reliable sources are Scholarly, peer-reviewed articles or book, Trade or professional articles or books, Magazine articles, books and newspaper articles from well-established newspapers, and Websites and blogs.

Although they are all examples of reliable sources they have their differences. To start off, Scholarly, peer-reviewed articles or books are written by researchers for students and researchers. They contain original research as well as an extensive bibliography. Trade or professional articles or books are written by practitioners in a field to impart practice-oriented information. With this content you have to be aware of sources on the internet that look like trade/professional articles, but don't have reliable content. Magazine articles, books and newspaper articles from well-established newspapers are written for a general audience by authors or journalists who have consulted reliable sources and vetted through an editor. Newspapers and magazines often contain both researched news stories and editorial/opinion pieces that express the view of the writer. It is important to be able to distinguish between them. Websites and blogs can be reliable or unreliable, hoaxes or sincere misinformation. It's up to you to evaluate the quality of what you find online.

Now that we have discussed different kinds of reliable sources, you may wonder who decides a source is reliable? One is an editorial review where the editor(s) are experienced practitioners or journalists. This review is often used by magazines for a general audience, professional or trade magazines for practitioners in a field, and professional newspapers. Next is through peer review of scholarly books and journal articles and then goes through a four step process. A scholar/researcher/professor writes an article or book proposal. Then go through the following four steps:

Submit the manuscript or proposal to an academic journal or book publisher in their field of study
The book or journal editor decides whether the topic and overall quality of the manuscript or proposal is appropriate for their journal or publication catalog.
If it is acceptable, the editor emails the manuscript or proposal to 2 or 3 scholarly experts in the subject
The experts read, critique, recommend:
1) publish as is (rare)
2) publish with revisions (major or minor)
3) Do not publish.

How can reliable sources affect society as a whole? A new comprehensive study, conducted by The Media Insight Project, shows that trust and reliability in news can be broken down into specific factors that publishers can put into action and consumers can recognize.The study also finds that many new considerations, such as the intrusiveness of advertising, navigability, load times, and getting the latest data, are also important in deciding if customers consider a publisher professional and trustworthy in the digital age. Research shows that the public has become increasingly suspicious of the news industry over the last two decades.

How might it affect different segments differently? Younger and older adults typically share common views about what trust in the news means to them. However, younger Americans are more likely to put more weight on variables related to the digital presentation and output of a source. Race and ethnicity often matter when it comes to whether individuals trust or rely on various sources of news. Consumers of African American and Hispanic news are more likely to claim that it is very important for them to see their cultures and people like them in the reporting, than white news consumers. And there are also some large differences in levels of confidence by political affiliation. Democrats are more likely than Republicans or independents to have faith in the press in general. There are, however, no systemic political gaps in views on what actually constitutes as credible or why people rely on certain sources.

Lastly, How might it affect you? Your family and friends? Your generation? Contrary to the notion that a polarizing "filter bubble" is created by social media, exposing individuals to only a limited spectrum of views, 70 percent of Millennials state that their social media feeds consist of diverse perspectives that are equally mixed between those close to and distinct from their own (Bishop,2020). An additional 16 percent say their feeds contain mostly viewpoints different from their own. Almost three-quarters of those exposed to various viewpoints (73 percent) indicate that at least some of the time they examine the opinions of others, with a quarter reporting that they always or sometimes do so (Bishop,2020). The use of social media as a news source is complicated by the potential of everyone to act as a reporter, sparking questions about fact checking, and an often-cited argument that social media affects those with the largest followers, regardless of their credentials. Clicking on Instagram to get the latest news is now as second nature for many young people as picking up a daily newspaper once was for generations before. This is a change in millennials and Gen Z for a website that has historically been a forum for sharing lifestyle content rather than hard news, at a time when news alerts seem more relevant than ever.