BUILT - An Information Literacy Tutorial for Science Undergrads

University of Alabama Libraries, Science Tutorial

Publisher

Does the publisher affect the information
in the source?

Publishers may have their own agendas when they choose to publish books and magazines. For example, they may hire authors whose writing reflects the values of their publishing company. On the Web, larger organizations usually sponsor pages by providing space on their computers. These organizations may have policies about the types of information that can be published on their servers, but often do not monitor what individuals write.

Your task is to identify the publisher of the source, and determine whether the publisher's policies or bias influence the information. To help you decide, consider the following:

When using a print magazine or journal, see if that periodical has a mission statement on the masthead or inside cover.
When using a Web source, look for a logo or link back to the home page.
Do advertisements take up a significant portion of the source? Many Web designers rent space on their pages and have little control over the advertisements that appear. Others may advertise their own products on their pages.
If you are having a difficult time identifying the publisher of a Web page, remove the file name from the URL to determine the sponsoring organization's Web site. For example:

University of Alabama Libraries, Find . . .