Writing Spaces 3

Overview and Teaching Strategies 
This essay is ideally taught in preparation for collecting sources for re-
search writing and provides a nice scaffold for students who have already 
engaged in some critical reading assignments or reading responses prior to 
being assigned a research writing assignment. The flow of activities was 
designed to support students in introductory composition, although the 
topic of source evaluation fits well at all levels, across the curriculum. Rec-
ognizing a widespread practice among college students to Google their 
topics, we have found it critical to introduce students to some concrete 
ways to evaluate all types of sources since we’ve found it to be unlikely (and 
impractical) to prohibit the use of Web sources. 
Questions
1. How, if at all, do sources dealing with certain subjects and/or argu-
ments call for a more rigorous scrutiny of credibility? For example, 
do those that are emotionally charged demand a closer look? Do 
sources in highly specialized fields require you to scrutinize the 
structure of their arguments more carefully? 
2. To what extent should you consider an author’s credentials when 
determining his or her knowledge of the field, and ultimately the 
credibility of the source? When, for example, might a source writ-
ten by a layperson be as valuable as one by an expert in the field? 
How might you compare, for instance, an article on juvenile delin-
quency written by a legislator to one produced by a social psychol-
ogist? How might you treat a book written by a physician who is 
also a TV personality? 
3. Do certain subjects, purposes, and audiences allow for a less critical 
evaluation of bias? How, specifically, might you determine when 
sources use emotional appeals without bias? 
4. What further challenges do Internet sources pose when it comes 
to gauging their credibility? How, for example, can you evaluate 

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Assessing Source Credibility for Crafting a Well-Informed Argument
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credibility when a Web site’s content comes from an indeterminate 
source or multiple authors? 
5. In what situations, if any, might you disregard credibility of a 
source? If a source lacks credibility according to your examination 
through critical reading, does it always mean you shouldn’t use 
it? How, if at all, might you use a source that lacks credibility in 
your essay?
Activities 
The following are two class activities that can help students put to action 
the advice and steps for critical reading discussed in the essay.