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Magazine and newspaper articles from reputable sources are generally reliable as they are written by journalists who consult trustworthy sources and are edited for accuracy. However, it's important to differentiate between researched news stories and opinion pieces.
Credibility dates back to Aristotle's theory of Rhetoric.Aristotle defines rhetoric as the ability to see what is possibly persuasive in every situation. He divided the means of persuasion into three categories, namely Ethos (the source's credibility), Pathos (the emotional or motivational appeals), and Logos (the logic used to support a claim), which he believed have the capacity to influence ...
The guideline Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources gives general advice on what is and isn't a reliable source; this essay aims to analyse specific examples of sources that might initially appear to be reliable, yet may not be. If in doubt about a source, discuss this at the reliable sources noticeboard.
If reliable sources use those words, it is not a violation of the NPOV policy to do the same and use those words in the text. When in doubt, just attribute it. "Neutrality is not the average between bollocks and reality. In science, any compromise between a correct statement and an incorrect statement, is an incorrect statement."
Source reliability falls on a spectrum: No source is 'always reliable' or 'always unreliable' for everything. However, some sources provide stronger or weaker support for a given statement. Editors must use their judgment to draw the line between usable and inappropriate sources for each statement.
Particularly if there are few sources listed, it is a good idea to scan those sources to see if they are reliable. Unreliable sources include most blogs and personal websites, although some of these are reliable. Reliable sources include most newspaper and magazine articles, online encyclopedias, and other professional publications such as books.
In 2010 researchers compared information about 10 types of cancer on Wikipedia to similar data from the National Cancer Institute's Physician Data Query and concluded "the Wiki resource had similar accuracy and depth to the professionally edited database" and that "sub-analysis comparing common to uncommon cancers demonstrated no difference ...
This dilemma is similar to the usual sourcing dilemma in relation to these biases, with the difference that numbers can give the false illusion of being reliable, since numbers can give the impression of being more objective than words. (Numbers obtained and presented accurately, are, of course, at the heart of most of modern science; but there ...