HEY LOOK!

Which web page would be the most reliable to use in a research paper?

A.

a blog written by someone who does not state sources

B.

a blog by a university professor who is writing about his personal opinions

C.

a web page with information that was last updated in 2006

D.

a web page that uses some sources that don't seem reliable

E.

a web page created by a department of the US government

Hi your answer is: E.

a web page created by a department of the US government

The correct answer is D. A web page created by a department of the US government

Explanation:

The reliability of a source or whether the information found in a source can be believed and trusted depend on different factors. Firstly, the author of a source should be considered as in most cases only experts in the subject are reliable. Secondly, the source should be updated, which means sources written or created a long time ago are not reliable and only sources from around the last 5 years should be included. Thirdly, sources need to be objective and provide evidence from other external sources to be reliable and finally, the type of source as some sources such as blogs do not have control over the reliability of information while others such as government or academical pages do.

Considering this, the on that would be the most reliable source is "A web page created by a department of the US government", because this source is probably updated, the author of it is reliable and objective, it provides evidence and the web page has strict control over the information, which means the information in this source can be believed or is reliable.