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3.3 Evaluating the credibility of sources
Evaluating the credibility of sources
✓ Evaluation
Learning focus
• Identify the author and purpose in a source. • Evaluate how credible a source is.
Getting started
Before 2010, a few thousand visitors each year visited a beauty spot called Horseshoe Bend near a small town called Page in Arizona, USA. By 2018, it was estimated that 2 million were visiting this isolated place. 1 Why do you think this happened? How do you think local people reacted? Exploring 2 Now read the extract on page 47 from a travel blog on a holiday agency website. When you read a source such as this, you are trying to establish three main things: 1. What am I being told? 2. Does this source help me answer the question I am researching (is it relevant)? 3. If so, can I trust what the writer/author tells me? Now, work through each question in turn, writing your own answers down. 3 What are you being told? a) Who is the writer? What are they describing or writing about? b) What information do they give? c) What is the purpose of the article they have written? d) What is their viewpoint or perspective on the issue? (This may be the same as the purpose of the article.) e) What information or evidence (if any) do they provide? f) What else might tell us their perspective? For example, do they use emotive words or phrases?
Sightseers at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona.Sample Pages Key terms emotive: showing strong feelings (for example, ‘I love tourist spots’)
How we are destroying one of the most scenic places in India: Ladakh
by Sinchita Mitra, student blogger, 31 August, 2019
Tourists visiting Pangong Lake, Ladakh. [Ladakh] in North India had often been praised for its amazing beauty, yet a long time ago not many Indians travelled here. It was a place out of limits, and too distant to travel to. But, that one scene from the superhit Bollywood movie [‘3 Idiots’] seemed to change everything. If Ladakh knew what was going to happen, as Aamir Khan reunited with his college mates at its picturesque blue lake, it would have strongly opposed the idea of any movie being shot there. After the movie, Indian tourists started heading over to this exceedingly beautiful lake and fl ocking to it in hordes. It was estimated that before this fi lm was released, around 400,000 Indians visited Ladakh – but after the release of the fi lm, the fi gures doubled and have still been growing at an exponential rate. The Pangong Lake – which became the hub of tourists – was once untouched by humanity, yet today it is cluttered with cafés, washrooms, and props from the movies. All this is done to further boost tourism in the city. What this has led to is a staggering effect on both the environment and on the lives of the locals. The once crystal-clear waters of canals in Leh are now fi lled with plastic water bottles that were casually thrown there. There are now traffi c jams in a place where cars were a rarity once. Due to the upsurge of these cars plying for the tourists, the air now has an acute pollution issue. It is no more the kind of air that can cleanse your soul. Source: Memorable India.
Vocabulary Bollywood: Indian fi lm studios nicknamed ‘Bollywood’ Aamir Khan: Indian fi lm actor hordes: huge numbers exponential rate: increasing more and more quicklySample Pages cluttered: untidily fi lled up with props: items used in a play or fi lm Leh: largest city in Ladakh plying: supplying or selling (here, trips to tourist destinations)
4 How relevant is the source to the big question you are researching?: ‘Should tourists be limited or even banned from visiting well-known beauty spots?’ Find examples in each case to support your answer and share them with a partner. a) Is the text about tourists? b) Does it describe or talk about a ‘well-known beauty spot’? c) The question uses the word ‘should’ which requires you to give your view. So, is the text one that gives a view on this issue? Developing The fi rst two questions lead you to the more complex third question: Can I trust what I am being told? Is the source credible? It is important to understand that whether a source is credible is not the same as asking whether you agree with the argument it makes. For example, a well-respected Antarctic scientist might argue in New Scientist magazine that melting ice is not a result of climate change. • They are credible because of their expertise and background and because the source is a respected science journal. • However, you – or other scientists – may have a different perspective altogether, supported by a competing argument and evidence.Sample Pages
Ice melting in Antarctica.
5 Discuss the answer to this third question – about the source’s credibility – with a partner. a) What is the writer’s role or position? Do they have a particular expertise from what you can tell? Do they have the ‘ability to see’ (that is, is the writer in a position to make a judgement about the issue)? b) What evidence for their views do they give? Is this primary evidence (something they have direct experience of) or secondary – or both? c) Do they – or the website/organisation – have a vested interest in telling you this? (You could consider whether the fact this is a holiday travel company is important.) Final task 6 Imagine you have been given the task of deciding what to do about increased tourist numbers in Ladakh. Several options are possible: • Do nothing: the popularity of the lake must have some positives. • Give guidance or set rules about how visitors should behave. • Ban or limit visitors altogether. • Do something else of your choosing. Working in a small group, decide what would be the best option and create a joint statement of 125–150 words summarising your viewpoint and reasons. You may need to do some further research into the situation in Ladakh or look at what other places have done in response to higher visitor numbers (for example, at Horseshoe Bend). REFLECTION POINT The text on page 47 is only a small part of a longer blog. In the later sections, the writer gives a range of guidance to tourists visiting popular locations. Here is one example:
Embrace the true culture of Ladakh. Due to the infl ux of tourists, Ladakh has now become fi lled with English cafés and American food chains. All these places are only fi lling the pockets of the multinational companies. Head over to an authentic local restaurant and help the locals.
Leh, the largest city in Ladakh.Sample Pages Source: Memorable India. What is the writer’s perspective here? Is there an alternative view that could be argued? If so, what is it?
