Why is it important to evaluate sources

Why is it important to evaluate sources for credibility, reliability, and bias? What are possible consequences for not evaluating sources for these items?

The DQ response must be 150-200 words and have at least one citation and one reference in APA format

Critical Thinking.pdf

1. Evaluate degrees of credibility 2. Assess whether a source is an interested versus a disinterested party 3. Assess claims in relation to their own observations, experiences, or background information 4. Evaluate a source based on veracity, objectivity, and accuracy 5. Evaluate a source based on knowledge or expertise 6. Understand the influences and biases behind the news 7. Become better (and perhaps more skeptical) evaluators of media messages 8. Limit the influence of advertising on their consumer behavior 104 Raymond James Merrill was the brother of an acquaintance of one of your authors. Why is it important to evaluate sources

In his mid-fifties, Merrill still cut a striking figure—tall and lean, with chiseled features, a bushy mustache, and a mane of blond hair. But he had been in a funk. He had broken up with his girlfriend, and he did not want to be alone. Then a website that featured “Latin singles” led him to Regina Rachid, an attractive woman with a seductive smile who lived in San Jose dos Campos, a city in southern Brazil, and suddenly Merrill was in love. Desperately so, it seems.

He believed everything Rachid told him and was credulous enough to make three trips to Brazil to be with her, to give her thousands of dollars in cash, and to buy her a $20,000 automobile. He even refused to blame her when thousands of dollars in unexplained charges turned up on his credit card account.

Sadly, Rachid was more interested in Merrill’s money than in his affection, and when he went to Brazil the third time, to get married and, he believed, begin a new life, he disappeared. The story ended tragically: Merrill’s strangled and burned body was found in an isolated spot several miles out of town. Rachid and two accomplices are now in jail for the crime, and two accessories are under investigation CREDIBILITY as we write this.*

The moral of the story: It can be a horrible mistake to let our needs and desires overwhelm our critical abilities when we are not sure with whom or with what we’re dealing. Our focus in this chapter is on how to determine when a claim or a source of a claim is credible enough to warrant belief. Why is it important to evaluate sources

A second story, less dramatic but much more common, is about a friend of ours named Dave, who not long ago received an email from Citibank. It notified him that there might be a problem with his credit card account and asked him to visit the bank’s website to straighten things out. (These notices often include a threat that if you fail to respond, your account may be closed.) A link was provided to the website. When he visited the site, he was asked to confirm details of his personal information, including account numbers, Social Security number, and his mother’s maiden name. Why is it important to evaluate sources

The website looked exactly like the Citibank website he had visited before, with the bank’s logo and other authentic-appearing details. But very shortly after this episode, he discovered that his card had paid for a plasma television, a home theater set, and a couple of expensive car stereos, none of which he had ordered or received. Dave was a victim of “phishing,” a ploy to identify victims for identity theft and credit card fraud. As this edition goes to press, the number of phishing Real Life The Nigerian Advance Fee 4-1-9

Fraud: The Internet’s Longest-Running Scam Is Still Running Strong If you have an email account, chances are you’ve received an offer from someone in Nigeria, probably claiming to be a Nigerian civil servant, who is looking for someone just like you who has a bank account to which several millions of dollars can be sent—money that results from “overinvoicing” or “double invoicing” oil purchases or otherwise needs laundering outside the country. Why is it important to evaluate sources

You will receive a generous percentage of the money for your assistance, but you will have to help a bit at the outset by sending some amount of money to facilitate the transactions, or to show your good faith! This scam, sometimes called “4-1-9 Fraud,” after the relevant section of Nigeria’s criminal code, is now celebrating more than a quarter century of existence. (It operated by telephone and FAX before the web was up and running.) Its variations are creative and numerous.

Critical thinkers immediately recognize the failure of credibility such offers have, but thousands of people have not, and from a lack of critical thinking skills or from simple greed, hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost to the perpetrators of this fraud. Why is it important to evaluate sources