One important aspect of source evaluation to consider throughout your research is the concept of authority. When you're looking for information, it's crucial to understand where the information comes from and how you can trust (or not) the source's authority, or expertise. Part of the research process involves thinking about types of authority and how authority is both constructed and contextual.

"...authority is a type of influence recognized or exerted within a community. Experts view authority with an attitude of informed skepticism and an openness to new perspectives, additional voices, and changes in schools of thought. [They] understand the need to determine the validity of the information created by different authorities and to acknowledge biases that privilege some sources of authority over others" (ACRL Framework for Information Literacy).

Types of authority include:

• Subject expertise, such as published work and scholarship or educational background;

• Societal position, such as public/government office or job title and industry affiliation;

• and lived experience, or knowledge gained from first-hand experience.

The research process looks different for different people and different assignments, but in general, you should try to incorporate multiple types of authority and expertise into your work. Consider your audience, information need, prior knowledge and experiences, goals for your research, and how different kinds of authority can be useful for learning and meeting your research/writing goals.

One way to practice source evaluation, the process in which you critically examine a source and the information it contains, is to ask yourself a series of questions about your sources. There are many useful questions to ask, but the following should be especially useful for JOUR 3095:

• Who wrote this source? What is their connection to the topic? Why are they writing about it?
• What evidence does the author use to support their argument?
• What perspectives are represented and/or left out?
• What are you curious about after reading this?
• Does this source inform, persuade, provide an opinion, sell something, etc.?
• Can the information in this source be verified by other sources?
• How does this source connect to your film, the SPJ Code, and your other sources?

Evaluating sources can be difficult, and it can feel overwhelming at times. It's also something that librarians love to work with students on, so don't hesitate to get research help!