Applying our Guiding Questions

Let's consider our guiding questions for this source:

Who is the intended audience?

The audience for this article might include casual readers interested in the topic. Readers could have seen it on the website or in print when it was originally published or could have come across it on social media.

Does the author have authority? Why or why not?

The author is a staff writer for the Times Food as well as an award winning reporter. While the author might not have a specific authority over this topic her staff profile will show that she has written extensively on a myriad of topics around food. Her credentials as a reporter and her experience as a staff writer (as well of her use of sources) make it likely that she does have authority to write on this topic.

Is the publisher trustworthy?

Assessing popular newspapers and journals for credibility can be tricky. You'll want to look at the publisher's history and reputation. The New York Times has a strong reputation worldwide for factual and credible reporting. While the publisher in this case is trustworthy, keep in mind that the New York Times also features opinion and editorial sections which might go through fewer levels of fact checking than normal articles. Additionally, you will also want to research the author and look for signs of bias. While a publisher may be trustworthy, an individual writer for that publisher may not be.

Does the author use citations? Do they tell you where they got their information?

The article mentions citations throughout the text but they are not linked. This could possible be due to the age of the article. This does not invalidate the credibility of the article but does mean you might have to do a little bit more digging to find the sources mentioned.

Final assessment

A popular journal or newspaper can be credible but you will often need to do a little more work to determine this. Like with the previous sources, you'll want to look into the author's history and experience. You'll also want to assess the publisher. Do they have a reputation for providing factual reporting? Have they historically been known to be biased in any way? You'll also want to look at their sources and assess them for credibility. What kinds of sources are they citing and do those sources support the author's claims? After thoroughly looking into the author and publisher for this article and doing some extra work to find its sources we can determine that the article is credible. While you wouldn't necessarily use this article to support scientific claims about MSG, you can use it to demonstrate MSG's wide use across restaurants and various cuisines.

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