Assessing Reliability
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See our guide Searching for Sources for further information
Four Questions for Evaluating Reliability:
Who?
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Who was the author – reasons to trust?
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Who was the publisher / organization behind the site?
When?
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When written (before or after relevant events)?
What?
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What was written – sweeping generalisations without reasons / evidence?
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Or, carefully balanced statements with reasons / evidence for opinions?
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Scathing, ridiculing, scoffing attitude towards others
Why?
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To stir up your emotions, to see things in black & white?
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Or, to make you see the shades of grey and complications of an issue?
Examples of Reliable Sources:
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Major magazines (Economist, Macleans, National Geographic, etc, etc)
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Major newspapers (Globe & Mail, Financial Times, Guardian, NY Times, Washington Post, etc, etc)
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Academic journals (Lanclet, New England Journal of Medicine, Science, etc, etc)
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Universities (.edu; ac.uk; etc, etc)
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Non-profit organizations (Oxfam, Amnesty International)
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News services such as CBC, BBC, ABC, NBC, PBS, etc, etc
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Famous museums/galleries (Smithsonian, British Museum, Canadian War Museum, etc, etc)
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Government sites (Health Canada, Center for Disease Control, NASA, UN, UNESCO, UNICEF, OECD, WHO, OECD)
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Not CIA Factbook – better to use BBC Country profiles
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Statistics: use NationMaster; also try Economist, Pew Charitable Trust, etc.
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Major publishers
YHS Databases:
Our databases consist of articles from published magazines, academic journals, and eBooks from reliable publishers.
Access via My YHS > Sr Learning Commons:
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19 different databases organized according to subject area
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Student Resources in Context is our #1 general database
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JStor is our #1 academic journal database, for use by 11th & 12th graders.
Inoculation Science:
Cambridge University has an online site which uses inoculation theory to “inoculate” players against misinformation:
