Skip to Main Content
link to library home page
SU Library AskUs

Today's Hours

More Hours

MKT 206: Principles of Marketing

Introduction to the ABC's

This guide will walk you through the "ABC's of Credibility". As you pursue academic research and evaluate various information sources, it's critical to assess their credibility and trustworthiness. The "ABC's of Credibility" provide a useful framework to guide you in this process.


 

A - Authority

  • Author expertise and qualifications - What are the author's credentials and background in this subject area? Are they affiliated with reputable institutions or organizations? Do they have appropriate education, training, and experience to be knowledgeable on this topic?
  • Type of publication - Is the source a book, academic journal, magazine, newspaper, website, blog? Is it a peer-reviewed scholarly publication? Generally, academic and professional sources are seen as more credible than popular media.
  • Date of publication - Is the source up-to-date for the topic? When was it last updated? How recently was it published?
  • Questioning Authority- Has the authority been questioned? Is this an isolated instance or a well-reasoned, tried and tested argument? Have people disagreed with it, and if so, what merits do their disagreements bear?

B - Biases

  • Publisher reputation - For books/articles, what is the reputation of the publisher? Is it an established, reputable academic press or organization?
  • Site sponsorship - For websites, who is responsible for the site? Is it tied to respected institutions, organizations, companies, or individuals? What might their motivations be for publishing this content?
  • Objectivity - Does the source seem objective and unbiased? Or does it seem driven by a particular agenda or point of view?

C - Craftsmanship

  • Writing quality - Is it clear, accurate, precise, and error-free? Or is the writing poor in quality?
  • Logic and reasoning - Does the author make logical arguments and connections? Is their reasoning biased or emotionally driven?
  • Evidence and citations - Does the author provide citations and references to credible sources? Is the information well-supported by evidence?

Citing Hoovers and FirstResearch

Citing Profiles from D&B Hoovers and FirstResearch

 

D&B Hoovers

     Basic Citation:   Hoovers, Inc. (current year). Company Name. Retrieved Month DD, YYYY, from D&B Hoovers.

     Cite a Profile Section:  Hoovers, Inc. (current year). Company Name: Section name. Retrieved Month DD, YYYY, from D&B Hoovers.

Example (for the Company History section of the Starbucks Corporation profile in D&B Hoovers)

     Hoovers, Inc. (2021). Starbucks Corporation:  Company history. Retrieved March 3, 2021, from D&B Hoovers.

 

FirstResearch

     Basic Citation:   Hoovers, Inc. (date - YYYY, Month DD). Industry Report Name. Retrieved Month DD, YYYY, from FirstResearch.

    Cite a Profile Section:  Hoovers, Inc. (date - YYYY, Month DD). Industry Report Name: Section name. Retrieved Month DD, YYYY, from        FirstResearch.

Example (for the Critical Issues section of the Coffee Shop industry profile in FirstResearch)

      Hoovers, Inc. (2021, February 15). Coffee Shops: Critical issues. Retrieved March 3, 2021, from FirstResearch.

NOTE 1:  Hoovers is the publisher for both of these databases.  Since there is no author for the profiles, you use the publisher in place of the author.

NOTE 2:  FirstResearch provides a day date at the top right of each industry profile, so you must include that date in your citation in the format provided above.  Yes, APA 7th uses two different date formats (see the retrieval statement).  This is because the year of publication is the most important part of the date in APA, but they also want to capture any other date information for when an item was published.