"I FOUND IT ON THE WEB, SO WHY CAN'T I PUT IT IN MY PAPER?": AUTHORIZING BASIC WRITER...

<p>The World Wide Web dramatically transforms basic writers' dialogic processes because Web source texts do not undergo conventional review processes to establish credibility. However, basic writing students' use of the World Wide Web in the dialogic process can advance a number of pedagogical objectives as students enter the "conversation of ideas" through reading and writing, particularly in terms of how basic writers become authorized in the academic community.¹ Student evaluation of Web source texts not only makes visible how authorization occurs but engages students in this process. Moreover, the questionable quality and credibility of Web-based source texts in the dialogic process brings the related skills of critical reading and thinking, of particular importance to underprepared writers, to the forefront of classroom pedagogy. Paradoxically, though, this technology also necessitates a reconsideration of the relationship between authority, academic discourse, and basic writers.</p>