Importance of Credibility in Materials
It is vital for students and communication teachers to be concerned with the materials as well as their credibility. The aspect determines the content that is going to be obtained from the sources. Various sources bombard students and teachers with bewildering and overwhelming amounts of materials. On that note, it’s vital for them to have critical thinking strategies on the evaluation of specific sources credibility and the content contained therein. When the materials have not been sorted out, it will be hard to track as well as confirm the legitimacy of those sources.
Biases and Age Considerations in Research Materials
The materials for research should not have biases, for example, some could have political, gender, race among other biases that would be propagated by the author which would not be good for the research. At the same time, some websites materials are promoted by companies and will have content that will tend to have biases to sway one towards their organizations stand, and that will provide wrong research. Age of the source ought to be considered since some content contained in old materials could have changed, or new perspectives developed on the same.
Source Credibility and the Role of Peer Review
Berners-Lee, in his video talk, is of the opinion that researchers ought to know the fact that by a source having been published it does not mean that all therein presents truths that cannot be challenged. The above brings in the subject of the credibility of the source that is used. The reliability can be affirmed when the materials have been peer-reviewed by others with expertise in that field. The communication teachers and students should rely on credible journals such as those published by the renowned university since they always ensure their work is peer-reviewed thereby adding to its credibility (Berners-Lee). At times, it’s appropriate to use primary sources. From chapter seven of the Book communication students more often overlook primary research. In this case, the primary research is the original one that entails collecting firsthand information and that requires one’s experiences in interviewing credible sources and conducting surveys.
Work Cited
Berners-Lee, Tim. A Magna Carta For The Web. Ted Channel, 2018.
