Learning Team Deliverable Essay

Credibility is the most important part of the group’s discussion last week. The members of the team agreed that credible sources must have a backup make a valid argument otherwise an argument or claims could become an opinion or an invalid argument. One disadvantage of not having credible information is it could tarnish one’s reputation and mistrust from audiences. Once the information has been put out to the public, the receiver or audience could verify the information to ensure that it comes from credible and reliable information. The speaker builds trust among the audiences when a claim or an argument presented are credible information and comes from a trustworthy source. The group also discussed the process of a claim becoming a belief using critical thinking. When a claim occurs, active listeners will analyze the total image of the message. The message image includes the words they heard, the emotion they felt and all the nonverbal cues they saw. They evaluate all the information they received against what they know to be true, to verify the credibility with the claims content and source. When fallacies in the claim get uncovered, they must be further dissected taking out the rhetoric and emotive instigators thus, leaving the contents of a valid argument and a response to the claim formulated. If the response shared, the communication cycle has a chance to circle back to the sender to further argue their claim. The message is successful when a claim is found favorable. Since the internet is where we get most of our information, it is important  to examine the source of the information and ensure factual evidence and not the author’s point of view. In evaluating the credibility of internet sources, one must examine whether information is a fact or the author’s opinion. Does it contain original information or simply just links? Is the information accurate? The information needs to be validated against other reliable resources for comparison and evaluate the author of the information. The author should come from a reputable and known organization in his field of expertise. The website must have a list of biographical information of the author to include his position, education, affiliation, and address. Judging the reliability of sources and site on the internet is crucial since there are no regulating body that monitors its reliability and authenticity. The lists of criteria to consider are as follows; the author or sponsor of the webpage should be identified and have apparent qualifications, must contain a copyright symbol and no obvious reason for biases. Reference Moore, B.N. & Parker, R. (2009). Critical thinking. (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Retrieved from the University of Oklahoma website: http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/02A/