Evaluating Research:
Author's Credentials
Background information that includes the author's credentials is often found in a book, at the beginning or end of an article, or as a link to a web page. Sometimes these biographical sketches are extensive. At other times they are very, very.
If a biographical sketch does not appear with the publication, you could attempt to find information about the author using Google or some other search engine. You could also look up the person in Who's Who or ask your instructor for assistance.
When considering author's credibility, you want to focus on the following information:
 Education
Does the author have a formal degree? Is he a student in the discipline about which he is writing? Does she have specialized training in the subject?
Work Experience
Where does the author currently work? What jobs has he previously held in the past?
Professional Affiliations
Is the author a member of a professional organization? Is she active in it?
Previous Publications
What else has the author published?
Discussion
Just because an author has a Ph.D. does not make them credible because expertise in one area does not make someone a universal expert.
Dr. Dana Finnegan, one of the co-authors of Dual Identities: Counseling Chemically Dependent Gay Men and Lesbians, has her Ph.D. in English literature; hardly a credential for writing this book. However, because she is also a Certified Alcoholism Counselor, one of the founding members of the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Alcoholism Professional, a well respected presenter, and author of other publications on addition, she does appear credible.
Special Notes on Web Pages
Consider the following Web page:
Dibble, Mark. "Evaluating Sources." 6 September 2005. University of South Florida, Tampa Library.
Mark Dibble's Credentials
From the web page, all we know about Mr. Dibble is that he is a Reference Librarian at the University of South Florida. And, given the context, this is all the information we need on the author's credentials to judge the quality of this excellent web site because "Evaluating Resources" also ranks high on publisher, date of publication, bibliography/footnotes, and table of contents.
It really was unnecessary to do a background search to learn more about Mr. Dibble's credentials; a search that would reveal that Mr. Dibble is a member of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, a member of the American Library Association, a member of the Reference and User Services Association, a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
is active in the Information Literacy Instruction List, co-publishes Transforming Traditional Libraries, and ...
At this point, we had already spent five minutes on our web search and decided to stop looking for more information.
| 
