Can you trust it?
One of the most important lessons to learn at university is to question your sources of information. (Put simply, don’t trust everything you see, read or hear!) The information below goes through the basics, mainly focusing on internet information, but of course, this is true of all sources of information.
When you read or hear something, the first thing you need to think about is: Is it a fact or an opinion? A fact is something we can check that is based on research and is written in a way that is not biased. For example, “The Earth is a ball.” While, surprisingly, there are still some people who do not believe this, we have photos from space and a lot of scientific research to show this is true. However, an opinion is something that shows someone’s belief, thinking or ideas about something. Different people have different opinions and it is often difficult to say if, like a fact, they are true or false. For example, “Chocolate is great.” Maybe you agree with this opinion, but there are many reasons chocolate is not great – for example, it is bad for your skin and teeth – and if you did research on this by asking many people, there would be different answers. You can use both facts and opinions in supporting your ideas, but you must make clear what they are. Sometimes this is difficult and sometimes people do not agree about it, especially on the internet – for example, there are many scientists who say Global Warming is a fact but there are many people who still think it is an opinion. So, what can you do?
Information on the Internet
What about the information you find when you are thinking about an essay? The Internet is a great source of ideas, information and support. Many students use the Internet a lot to research ideas and information. But can you always trust what you find? Are you sure it is true? When you read something on the Internet, you always need to think about:
- Who wrote it?
- Who did they write it for?
- Why did they write it?
- When did they write it?
Let’s look at these points in more detail.
1. Who wrote it? Who would you trust more: A reporter at the Asahi Shinbun or someone called John you have never met on Twitter? The reporter’s job is to research information and give opinions and the reporter’s work is usually checked by people at the newspaper, so you can trust it more. Often the reporter will refer to (say) where they got the information from, and you can check in other newspapers too to see what they said. Maybe John has some interesting ideas, but you need to be careful. Maybe he has strong biases (for example, he hates American people) or strong beliefs. If you use his ideas in your writing, be clear where you found the ideas and say what possible problems there are.
2. Who did they write it for? What would you trust more: A report on a Japanese government website or an advertisement you see on a Google search? The advertisement is trying to sell you something, which could be shampoo, or it could be asking for your support for something like a religious group. If the site you are looking at has lots of advertising, maybe the writing is to support the advertising, so perhaps the government website would be more trustworthy. But, is it really a government webpage or is it pretending to be? Is the writer or organization a professional? Anyone can make a webpage and anyone can copy the format from a government or big company. It can be very challenging to check a website. The first thing to check is the domain name, which is the last part of the URL. (See the picture for a beginner’s guide to domain names.)
3. Why did they write it? An advertisement wants you to buy something. A government politician wants your support and your vote. A blogger writing their opinion wants you to think the same as them. A company report wants you to see things from the company’s point of view. People or organizations write for a reason. Thinking about “Why did they write it?” helps you understand the writing more and also helps you think about your own reaction to the writing and your own ideas.
4. When did they write it? When was the page written? When was it last updated or changed? Is there a date? Are the links still working? Many websites were created a long time ago and have not been changed. Information and ideas change and you need to be sure you know when the ideas you are reading are from. Again, you can use them, but be sure to show how old they are.
All of this is another reason to clearly show where your ideas come from, who wrote them, and when they were written – the main idea of academic writing! Look at the page “How to show your sources: APA 入門” for more about this.
KSU Faculty of Foreign Studies
Department of English