Ask yourself these questions:

• Can the author be identified?
• The authors of books and scholarly journal articles are always clearly identified. Magazines and newspapers may identify the author, or they may simply indicate that an article is written by a staff reporter. On Web pages, the author may or may not be identified. When using any Internet source, keep in mind that even if a name is provided, there is no guarantee that the author’s identity or credentials are true. If there is not enough information about who wrote it, look for a way to contact the person who posted the page. If it is impossible to identify the author of a Web page, treat the content with skepticism.

• Is the author qualified to write on this topic?
• Look for information about the author’s academic background, experience, and position. This information is usually included at the beginning or the end of an article or book, and may appear anywhere on a Web page.

• Does the author seem to be an expert on the topic?
• The expert writer can show how her work relates to other authors’ work in the same field of study, even when they disagree. Look for evidence that the author is familiar with research or other sources on the same topic. This may appear in references or a bibliography. If the author is a reporter, the content probably comes from reading others’ research reports or conducting interviews.