Learn About the Author

Writers use sources for a variety of purposes: to support a point, to illustrate a range of positions on an issue, and to show that they are not alone in their opinions, among others. With rare exceptions (such as when you are illustrating divergent opinions), any author you cite should be reliable and trustworthy. To learn about an author, ask yourself the following questions:

Who is the author, and what are his or her credentials?

Is the author a recognized authority?

With what institutions or organizations is the author affiliated?

In what ways does the author’s biases affect the source?

What if a source doesn’t identify its author?

A Note About Field Sources: If you are conducting field research, you can sometimes select the "authors" of your information. This is particularly true with interviews, where you can hand pick the person who will be the "author" of your interview. You can also select the "authors" of questionnaires and observations, although you can usually do so only in a general sense, such as choosing to distribute a questionnaire to a particular group of people or choosing to observe a particular setting.