What is Trustworthy Online?
In the past, it has taken a horse and rider to bring people new information. Today, it would be hard to find someone without a cellphone in their pocket that connects them to millions of sources of information. With the abundance of information available today, how does one decipher between inaccurate and truthful information?
When first viewing a resource, evaluate the authority of the author. A published and peer-reviewed scholar is more trustworthy than an author on Wikipedia or Facebook that is unreviewed and open to editing by the public. You should also review the accuracy of any sources that are cited in the resource to see if they are also accurate and relevant.
The date on which the information was published is also vital to the current accuracy of information. Something that has been posted and left unedited five years ago is more likely to be out of date than data updated every month.
Comparing sources is also helpful to establish credibility. For example, when reading events in the news, you can compare different papers to see what data lines up. It can also help to provide an unbiased understanding of the information because only reading one source leads to only having one perspective of an event.
When it comes to finding accurate information, looking at the sources that you choose will establish if the information is trustworthy or not. For example, a journal that is peer-reviewed and factual about the relevant coronavirus in 2020 would be The 2020’s world deadliest pandemic: Corona Virus (COVID-19) and International Medical Law (IML). A source such as this Coronavirus article on Wikipedia isn’t trustworthy because it is old and publically edited, without anyone credible reviewing or publishing the information.
When finding information, ensure to check on the accuracy of the information that you use. To build your arguments, you need to have a solid and trustworthy base of information to back you.