Understand the basic concept of credibility.

• Be familiar with the difference between assessing the credibility of a claim and assessing the credibility of a source.

Understand the ways of assessing a claim that comes without supporting argument.

• Recognize the importance of direct observation but also the factors that might render such observation unreliable.
• Understand the broad significance of background information and the way it plays into assessments of credibility.
• Recognize what burden of proof means and how to apply that criterion.

Understand the ways of assessing the source of a claim.

• Understand the criteria for assessing someone's expertise: education, experience, accomplishments, reputation, and position in the relevant field.
• Recognize the factors that diminish a person's credibility.

Understand the issues of credibility that arise for public sources of information.

• Be able to assess the credibility of news media.
• Be able to assess the credibility of Internet sources.

Understand the issues of credibility that arise in advertising.

• Be able to assess what claims an advertisement is really committing itself to and what grounds it is giving you for accepting those claims.