6-5 Know the Author

As mentioned in 6-2 Credible Sources, it is important to know some background information about the author. This helps increase our understanding of what we are reading.

Research the author. Is the author a professional journalist or a common blogger? Did the author grow up on a farm or in a city? These facts might give a better idea about the author’s intention and lend more or less trust to the reading. Some nonfiction is intentionally bias. Biases are opinions, not facts.

Ideally, the author of history is unbiased. This type of nonfiction catalogues the history of a place- usually a country. Bias exists in history books. It is best to get your history from a variety of sources.