In this post, I will raise some talking points as to the authoritative nature of an article when referenced by an author. Another question The Google Quality Filter uses in the analysis of assessing the page/article quality is:
Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
The Google Search Engine will analyze the credibility of an Article/Webpage using the authority of the article – in other words, is the content contain therein reliable and trustworthy?
I have been working on this specific article for about (3) days and it has been very difficult to compose; henceforth, I will do my very best to methodically explain how our articles can become reliable and subsequently, a point of reference for other individuals to use as a source of reference material.
As a starting point, I will use a definition referenced by the Department of Defense as a foundation:
“An authoritative source is a source of data or information that is recognized by members of a Community of Interest (COI) to be valid or trusted because it is considered to be highly reliable or accurate or is from an official publication or reference.”
The source of data or information is our article content, and the members of a Community of Interest are simply our readers and visitors. We should ask ourselves how correct, available, accessible, and updated our content is, and also, will other individuals be able to use our information for their respective research and derive subsequent information?
Through my research for this article, I found a few guidelines and questions that will help us all in familiarizing ourselves with various types of Web resources and the reliability of the information.
1. Does the author have authority in the field in which he/she is writing about? Attributes such as author qualification, credentials, and connections should be taken into account.
2. What institutions and/or organizations is the author associated with? A link to an association does not necessarily mean that the organization approved the content.
3. Does the author have other publications? Perhaps these will be in the form of professional or educational publications; however, if the author does not have other publications, this only indicates that the author’s authority has not been subjected to review.
4. Is the author biased? A common bias indicator is a reader obtaining an impression that the author is trying to sell and item, product, or service. Personal opinions are not negative; however, and as I have previously written about, keeping an impartial objective approach allows for readers to interpret the article from various perspectives.
5. Is the Web information current? If outdated links are referenced, ask yourself what this indicates about the credibility of the information.
6. Are the referenced sources properly recognized? If the information is not backed up with sources, what is the author's relationship to the subject to be able to give an "expert" opinion?
7. Can the subject we are researching be fully covered with WWW sources or should print sources provide balance?
8. On what kind of Web site does the information appear? The site can give us clues about the credibility of the source.
It is safe to assume that if we have limited background in a topic and have a limited amount of time to do our research, we may not be able to get the most representative material on the subject. We all need to be cautious in making unsubstantiated conclusions based on a narrow range of sources.
This may be the most arduous article I have written to date. All too often, I see information copied; sources not recognized appropriately; individuals using articles as a source of selling rather than educating; and credibility misplaced. To all of all the individuals who read this article, I remain humbled that each of you takes an interest and my hope is that we all can learn more from each other.
These are but just a few suggestions and as always, I am welcome to all feedback and discussion as appropriate.
No comments:
Post a Comment