English/Technical Communication 300: Writing in the Professions

Authority?

While it's useful to look for what the site is saying about themselves, also google the name of the organization or person, aka "lateral searching." What do others think of them? Exception = .gov are governmental sites. You can't buy a .gov domain.

Pulling up lots of news-like articles? 

How can you find out the reputation of the magazine, newspaper, or organization that published the information? Google the name to see what others are saying. If it is a real news organization, there will be a Wikipedia entry on it.

A very useful tool for a thorough evaluation of news organizations and major think tanks is NewsGuard. It's a subscription service, but if you use the Microsoft Edge browser (desktop or app), you can download the extension for free.

• Don't have Edge? Go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge or your App store.

Go to https://www.newsguardtech.com/edge within the Edge browser, for directions about adding the extension.

For the App version, go to the Microsoft Edge settings, and click on News ratings. Turn it on. When there is a rating for the news site, you'll see the icon in the address bar.

Once you have NewsGuard installed, you'll see a green, gray, or red icon next to the results list in Google, or at the top next to the URL when you are on a site that NewsGuard has evaluated. Hover over the icon to bring up a short evaluation of how well it follows journalistic standards. Click on "See the full Nutrition Label" to view a detailed analysis, with references.

Search by Authority

Note the names of experts as you run across them. This is how your professors do research in their area of specialization. They know Dr. X is doing work in Y area.

Double-check Facts You Rely On

Factual information shouldn't be difficult to find in more than one place. Note where the information is coming from and evaluate the authority.