Authority
You must consider the authority of the creator(s) of the document in order to
appraise the reliability of the information provided. You should consider aspects
such as the authors’ previous research, their organizational affiliation,
political stance, credibility and reputation among their peers. Much internet material
does not even indicate authorship and documents that have no named author
should always be treated with great caution, Where publishers are given consider
whether they have a reputation for producing authoritative and high quality
publications. Journal articles are often peer reviewed before publication but this is
not always the case and you should check for information about the editorial policy
of journals to determine the rigour of the review process. It is also worth
investigating whether a source you have identified has been cited by other reputable
authors. The social Sciences Citation Index, available via the ‘Wed of Science’ at http:// wos.mimas.ac.uk/, allows you to do this with a large number of academic journals.