Researchers and students can easily trace most of the information on World War II on the Internet. With a variety of websites available to offer the knowledge, most students and researchers have found themselves relying on the Internet regarding the events during the war. However, while the Internet provides profound details on what happened at battle build-up, most historians have been associated with skepticism when using non-academic online sources like History and Britannica. When the mentioned websites are utilized in data search, exploration is done to justify the reliability of the information to determine whether researchers should use non-academic sources in study.
The article used for illustration on World War II on the website History is titled, Adolf Hitler. The authors are the website’s editors and their article first appeared on the website on October 29, 2009, as the original copy, later updated on August 30, 2019. The article on the second website, Britannica, has the title World War II Facts, Summary, History, Dates, Combatants: 1939-1945 with alternate names for World War II given as WWII and Second World War. The editors first added the article to the website on August 23, 1998. The report has undergone subsequent edits, with the final copy being contributed to by John Graham Royde-Smith and Dr. Thomas Alexander Hughes on September 27, 2021. Thomas A. Hughes serves as an associate professor at the Advanced Air and Space Studies School in Alabama. John Graham Royde-Smith serves as an associate editor, history at Encyclopedia Britannica in London. Researchers can use the information on the authors at Britannica to determine the reliability of the information provided on the website. However, History offers no hint to its article’s contributors, and thus, reliability becomes questionable.
Looking at the brief overview of the information provided on Adolf Hitler, History’s table of contents gives eighteen subtitles that illustrate who Hitler was. The titles used in the article constitute early life, military career of Adolf Hitler, Nazi Party, beer hall putsch, ‘Mein Kampf, Aryan Race, the Schutzstaffel (SS), Eva Braun, the Third Reich, Reichstag Fire, Hitler’s Foreign Policy. The other seven titles are Night of the long knives, Persecution of Jews, Outbreak of World War II, Blitzkrieg, Concentration Camps, End of World War II, How did Hitler Die, and Sources. The article at Britannica has several titles and contains an Introduction, Axis Initiative and Allied Reaction, The Outbreak of War, Forces and Resources of the European Combatants, 1939, and Technology of War, 1918-39. Further, it gives an account of The war in Europe, 1939-41, the Campaign in Poland, the Baltic states and the Russo-Finnish War, 1939-40. The last titles in the article talks about The Far East.
The other aspect that makes the Britannica article on World War II reliable is credit for every image used. However, while the article on Adolf Hitler has no recognition given to the images used, it can be reliable because it gives credit to other authors whose information was used in the development of the article. By clicking on the respective links on both websites, the reader can easily be directed to diverse types of information, not necessarily information on World War II. World War II is significantly associated with Hitler and his involvement in the war and that is why by searching World War II on the Internet, History gives an account of Hitler’s contribution to the war. Therefore, Britannica’s article World War II Facts, Summary, History, Dates, Combatants: 1939-1945 also gives information on the various events that contributed to the war.
History initiates information on its website by providing an introductory section that gives the background information on who Hitler was. The details that follow build-up towards informing the audience on what Hitler’s role was in the war. In an almost similar arrangement, the article on Britannica starts with an introduction. The remaining section builds up on the events that made the war successful or not, depending on the reader’s perspective.
Reliability can be determined to by the background information of the author(s). In the case of the article World War II at Britannica, the provided information on Royde-Smith and Hughes makes the reader realize the authors know history, the field they have written about. Inyang on the importance of knowing the authors’ background information shows that understanding a writer’s purposes, assumptions, and background emphasizes the details that support their reason for writing. To be knowledgeable in a specific field of study means the author has the credibility required to inform readers better and more persuasively than writers whose background information the reader cannot find. Based on the knowledge established by Inyang, the background information provided about the authors at Britannica makes their information to become more reliable and has more impact on the reader. While the website History accredits information used from other sources, the absence of author background information means researchers will avoid it and rely more on Britannica when researching about WWII.
When conducting research, one of the essential aspects to look for is the author’s institutional affiliation. The Oregon State University shows that researchers willingly list their affiliation with a research institution or university in research (Oregon State University n.p). An article becomes more credible when its authors are affiliated to specific institutions and impacts the reader more unlike when no affiliations are shown in a report. Comparing the article on Britannica and that one on History, the writing on Britannica becomes more credible because the author information is provided, where the two authors are affiliated to has also been shown. The outcome of such an inclusion on the article at Britannica makes it more respected, unlike the one at History. By failing to give details of the authors of the article Adolf Hitler, more research readers will refrain from using the information presented. The audience will find it hard to trace the credibility and reliability of the information hence will not respect the article.
Through author information and affiliation, readers can know more about the institution where the author is based, and when such an association is established, the article gains integrity. With integrity comes responsibility, and it is the mandate of the author to ensure all the rules and regulations are followed. While the regulations may vary, between countries, the authors have to follow them when publishing an article. The absence of the author’s information in History, the lack of background information, and affiliation might not mean there was misconduct leading to the publishing of the article denying its credibility. However, by not sharing this information means very few researchers can relate the work in the studies. The absence further shows that relying on the data while conducting the research might result in the researcher’s paper being unreliable.
Bibliography
History. “Adolf Hitler”. 2019. Web.
Inyang, Ekpe. 2017. Doing Academic Research. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Web.
Oregon State University. “Scholarly Articles: How Can I Tell?”.
2021. Guides Library Oregonstate. Web.
Royde-Smith, J. Graham and Hughes, Thomas A. “World War II.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Web.