Books, articles, and other information sources often include information about their authors in order to prove to readers that these authors are qualified to write on the subject being discussed. This information is referred to as an author's "credentials".
An author's credentials may include the academic degrees he or she holds, the institution that he or she works for, his or her job title, and information about his or her previous accomplishments. Author credentials are often given in the text of an article or book, and they can help you determine whether the author is well-qualified to write on a particular topic.
Below are three examples of author credentials:
Credentials from a book:
Credentials can often be found on the title page, in the text of a book itself, or on the book's cover or dust jacket. In cases where credentials are not given, it can be helpful to do a Web search for information about the author, and/or to look in online library catalogs to see whether the author has written any other books.
Credentials from a scholarly article:
Author credentials in scholarly articles can often be found directly below the article title. Authors of scholarly articles can generally be assumed to have formal academic training in a subject area. In some databases, the author's name will be a hyperlink; clicking on the author's name will retrieve a list of all documents in that database written by the author. Additional information about an author may also be found through a general Web search.
Credentials from a popular article:
Author credentials in popular publications often appear at the end of articles. In cases such as this one, where more specific information about the author is not provided, it is often worth checking the publication's Web site to see if additional information about the author is available. A general Web search for more information about the author can also be helpful.