Rule 7: Share Expert Knowledge

An online community, especially in the academic field, is all about the type of information one provides to the others. Therefore, it is important to make sure that when you provide information the appropriate citation is present when needed. In addition, there may be times where you promise an answer to a question or set of question. Make sure you go back and provide those answers! This will help instill trust with your peers, will help represent yourself well, and will continue the addition of knowledge to the world wide web.

Let’s look at an example of this rule in action:

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Scenerio 1

A peer has responded to one of your posts: “Great work! I agree with your statement that chocolate chip cookies are the best type of cookies. It is said that 3 out of 5 people prefer them to other types of cookies.”

 

Yes- This response is much better. The poster provided expert knowledge with the appropriate resource information.

No - The student’s response was not better than the last. Everyone knows chocolate chip cookies are the best.

Scenerio 2

One of your other peers responded to the post above: “Thank you for your post. I personally do not prefer chocolate chip cookies. I prefer oatmeal raisin cookies since I am allergic chocolate. According to WebMD, the number of people who test positive to 1 or more allergens is 55%. (http://www.webmd.com/allergies/allergy-statistics)”

 

Yes- This response is much better. The poster provided expert knowledge with the appropriate resource information.

No - The student’s response was not better than the last. Everyone knows chocolate chip cookies are the best. :)