When experts disagree: Sourcing practices while reading conflicting online information sources

Laypeople who use the Internet to learn about issues of personal or social relevance often encounter online information sources that present conflicting expert accounts. The aim of the current study was to provide a close observation of spontaneous sourcing practices while reading conflicting online information sources, to examine the relation between sourcing while reading and subsequent argument construction, and to assess the role of epistemic perspectives, topic interest, and topic knowledge in sourcing. 61 university students thought aloud while reading four blog-posts that provided conflicting accounts of a socio-scientific controversy. The findings revealed a wide range of sourcing practices. High sourcing participants made more sourcing activities, paid more attention to source characteristics, and made source-source comparisons. Higher levels of sourcing were found to be related to subsequent argument complexity. Epistemic perspectives and gender played a significant role in sourcing practices ad highlighted their socio-cultural nature.