Dance

There are a lot of factors to consider when you are determining the trustworthiness -- the “credibility” -- of a source or a piece of information, regardless of where you find it. 

We used to use the CRAP test to avoid ending up trusting, well, crap. And even though we have to think about more than just these factors, these questions still give us a solid start.

Currency - How old is it, and is that information likely to be outdated by now? 

Reliability - Does this publisher or website have a solid reputation? 

Authority - Does the person or persons who created it actually know what they’re talking about on this topic? 

Purpose - Are these people trying to convince me of something, or do they have an agenda they are trying to push?

Lateral reading is the key to getting answers to these questions when you are evaluating information that you find on the “open web” (that is, the content on the internet that isn’t selected and provided to you by a trusted tool like a library database). 

In the case of AI-generated answers and content, there may not even be publishers or authors, per se, and the currency and bias of the material is dependent on whatever dataset the AI tool is using, which may not always be clear. So when content was created by AI, or when you can’t tell who created the content or where it came from, it’s important to confirm the factual claims themselves by confirming them using other, trustworthy sources. Then use those trustworthy sources for your research. 

A few miscellaneous cautions as you venture out:

• Don’t be tricked into thinking that because a site contains a LOT of information that the information is necessarily good. 
• Bias ≠ agenda. Everyone has a bias, which is just how they see things; an agenda is what they are trying to DO (like push a particular narrative).
• Don’t always take the top hit from your search results. Skim the list of results and choose one from a trustworthy site, if possible. 
• Be aware that AI will make up fake citations and sources for its information if you ask it to cite its sources. When in doubt, google the citation to see if it’s legit. 

Ask Here PA is a 24/7 chat reference service for Pennsylvania residents. You will be connected to a librarian who can help you with many of your research questions, but remember that he or she does NOT work at Seton Hill and therefore will not have access to our databases or information about your SHU library account.