[Student’s Complete Name]
There is a popular notion especially in the academic communities that websites are oftentimes, if not always, not credible and lack foundational basis particularly if being used for research or as a reference. From one perspective, it is a valid argument because some websites are highly editable and normally do not cover in-depth analysis of a subject material. Nevertheless, there are also websites that are backed up with evidence and are written by people who are experts in their own fields. Sports websites are always criticized for lacking authority in giving information or discussing topics that are related to sports because oftentimes, sports websites take things at face value, making notes of events that happen in real time so there is little effort being given to in-depth analysis. However, there are also sports websites that are considered credible because of the amount of information they contain and the credibility of the authors who write their articles. ESPN.com is a credible website because it is connected to a larger conglomerate of networks (Hearst Corporation and the Walt Disney Company; the articles written or posted on its website are written by experts; articles written on its websites are filled with critical analysis and are taking references from other credible websites like CNN.com and BBC.com.
I am using this topic because (1) of the perennial argument against the credibility of sports websites, particularly ESPN.com, whether they deliver the information accurately or if they provide complete and useful information to its readers and (2) there needs to be an initiative taken to evaluate whether ESPN.com can be a great tool for gaining information related to sports and to be used as a credible resource for writing academic papers, especially for students majoring in sports management, kinesiology, and physical education.
Audience Characteristics
Obviously, I expect that my audiences are reading the articles for interest, concerned with practical matters, and want to hear new conclusions and information about sports.
Scope and Outline
This paper is expected to discuss things that are related to ESPN.com and sports websites in general. Although it would have to cover a little bit on the arguments against the credibility of websites, this paper shall focus only on sports websites with rich emphasis on ESPN.com and the arguments encompassing it whether it is credible or not. The major sections would be Introduction, Review of Related Literature, Research Methods, Research Findings, Discussions, Conclusions, and Bibliographic entry.
The following questions are sought to be answered: What makes a website credible and makes it not credible? This is probably the most important question of all because we are dealing with the hype of inferring websites as not credible. Why is ESPN.com credible? What are the characteristics of its website that makes it credible?
Research Plan
The plan is to use a META analysis of all articles related to sports websites and ESPN.com and relate them to how people view credibility in general. It will also be backed up with a survey that is going to be distributed all throughout the country, using random samples, and managed through electronic submission.
The following sources will be used in this research:
Primary Sources
Chan, J.M., Lee, F.L.F., and Pan, Z. (2006). Online news meets established journalism: How
China’s Journalists evaluate the credibility of news websites. New Media and Society, 8,
925-947.
Long, M. & Chiagouris, L. (2006). The role of credibility in shaping attitudes toward nonprofit
Websites. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 11(3),
239-249.
Schweiger, W. (2000). Media credibility – Experience or image? A survey of the credibility of
The world wide web in Germany in comparison to other media. European Journal of
Communication, 15(1), 37-59.
Secondary Sources
Corritore, C.L. et al. (2005). Measuring online trust of websites: Credibility, perceived ease of
Use and risk [PDF]. AMCIS 2005 Proceedings. Paper 370. Retrieved from: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1853&context=amcis2005
Liu, Z. (2003). Perceptions of credibility of scholarly information on the web. Information
Processing and Management, 40(6), 1027-1038.
Park, C. & Lee, T.M. (2007). Information direction, website reputation and eWOM effect: A
Moderating role of product type. Journal of Business Research, 62(1), 61-67.
