BUS 120: Mathematical Analysis For Business: Evaluating and Citing Sources

With the proliferation of AI-generated content, it is crucial that users evaluate every piece of information thoroughly to determine its reliability, trustworthiness, and authority. While there are benefits of using Generative AI, it has several potential issues that users need to keep in mind. Some of the issues include: 

• Reliability:  Natural language processing tools, language models, or chatbots, are trained on a collection of writing to generate human-like text in response to a prompt, not necessarily to generate truthful or reliable answers.  
• Transparency:  In the same way that natural language processing tools, language models, or chatbots, are not necessarily generating truthful or reliable answers, they are not specifically created to locate and credit the sources for the responses they generate.
• Bias:  Since natural language processing tools, language models, or chatbots, are trained on a large body of writing created by humans with human biases the responses generated could reflect and further enforce those same biases.
• Privacy:  Like any online platform, AI tools accept the input of private information from users who may not be aware of how the platform intends to use that information.
• Equity:  Many generative AI tools, both text and image-based, were trained on large collections of material taken from the internet without prior approval or involvement from the human authors who created the content.  These same human authors will be forced to compete for their livelihood with an automated system that can work faster.
  • Many AI tools also perpetuate the dominance of English in online spaces, threatening Indigenous languages.
  • Access to powerful, quality, AI tools may require payment and thus divide those who cannot afford to pay for the tools from the advantages enjoyed by those who can pay.

Who is the author? Could their view be biased in any way?

Text or images generated by AI tools have no human author, but they are trained on materials created by humans with human biases.  Unlike humans, AI tools cannot reliably distinguish between biased material and unbiased material when using information to construct their responses.

What was the intended audience?

Generative AI tools can be used to generate content for any audience based on the user’s prompt.

What is the intended purpose of the content?  Was it created to inform, to make money, to entertain?   

Generative AI tools can create convincing text and images that can be used to propagate many different ideas without being clear that the information or images could be false.

Where was it published?  Was it in a scholarly publication, a website, or an organization page?

Generative AI has already been used to create content for websites and news outlets. Considering whether the source is scholarly, has a good reputation and has a clear history of providing reliable information is useful for figuring out whether the information you find is useful or misleading.

Does it provide sources for the information?

Articles, news outlets, and websites that provide sources could be an indicator of reliability.  Further assessing the sources by following the links and citations to verify the information will help confirm that the information you find is reliable.

Credit: AI Tools and Resources, University of South Florida Libraries 

Evaluating Sources - ACT UP & Push Against Privilege

We evaluate resources to locate reliable and credible sources for our research whether it is for a class assignment or for personal interest. We evaluate resources so that we don't believe everything that we come across on the web and so that we are not fooled by that information. We also evaluate resources because it is our social responsibility to make sure that the information we share with others is trustworthy.  We also evaluate sources to make sure that the dominant voices in our society do not silence the minoritized voices.  In order to do so, we apply the ACT UP method to our evaluation.

Why ACT  UP?

• We all have a responsibility to fact-check sources before we retweet or repost so that those who follow us are reading accurate and reliable information.
• By definition, ACT UP means to act in a way that is different from normal or what is generally accepted.
• To ACT UP, means to actively engage in dismantling oppressions and acting upwards to create a more socially just system.

What does ACT UP stand for?

Use the acronym below to evaluate your sources answering as many of these questions as you can. 

Author

• Who wrote the resource? Who are they? Background information matters. Google the heck out of them.
• If  you are looking at a website, is there an “About Us” section of the website? Google the website’s title/domain name/authors to see if any of them have been reported as a source of fake news.
• Is there any information about the credentials and backgrounds of affiliated writers, editors, publishers, or domain owners (who.is etc.). Is there a “Legal” or “Disclaimer” section?
• Pay attention to the domain name. (.edu, .gov, and .org) as opposed to (.com and .net).

Currency

• When was this resource written?
• When was it published? If you are on a website, can you find when the site was last updated?
• Does this resource fit into the currency of your topic? Do you need up-to-date, current information?

Truth

• How accurate/true is this information?
• Can you verify any of the claims in other sources? Do the rule of three. Is this verifiable in three other sources?
• Does the language of the source contain words to evoke an emotional response?
• Are there typos and spelling mistakes?

Unbiased

• Is the information presented in a way to sway the reader to a particular point of view?
• Is there a conflict of interest? See if you can find out who funded the research. The funders might have a vested interest in the outcome of the research. Remember, research is expensive so follow the money.
• Are the authors affiliated with any organizations or associations that would cause a conflict of interest?
• Remember, bias is not always a bad thing as long as the source is explicit about their bias and agenda.

Privilege

• There is privilege in publishing whereby mostly white scholars/researchers have the opportunity to publish their research.
• Ask yourself, are they the only folks that might write or publish on this topic?
• Who is missing in this conversation?
• Take time to search for sources/authors who are not represented in the databases so that your research is well-rounded and inclusive.

Content on this has been borrowed with permission from Dawn Stahura 's Evaluating Sources: ACT UP (Links to an external site.).