Editing Authentication (section)

== In literature ==
In literacy, authentication is a readers’ process of questioning the veracity of an aspect of literature and then verifying those questions via research. The fundamental question for authentication of literature is – Does one believe it? Related to that, an authentication project is therefore a reading and writing activity in which students document the relevant research process.<ref>Norton, D. E. (2004). ''The effective teaching of language arts''. New York: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.</ref> It builds students' critical literacy. The documentation materials for literature go beyond narrative texts and likely include informational texts, primary sources, and multimedia. The process typically involves both internet and hands-on library research. When authenticating historical fiction in particular, readers consider the extent that the major historical events, as well as the culture portrayed (e.g., the language, clothing, food, gender roles), are believable for the period.<ref name=":0" />
[[Literary forgery]] can involve imitating the style of a famous author. If an original [[manuscript]], typewritten text, or recording is available, then the medium itself (or its packaging – anything from a box to [[e-mail headers]]) can help prove or disprove the authenticity of the document. However, text, audio, and video can be copied into new media, possibly leaving only the informational content itself to use in authentication. Various systems have been invented to allow authors to provide a means for readers to reliably authenticate that a given message originated from or was relayed by them. These involve authentication factors like:
* A difficult-to-reproduce physical artifact, such as a [[Seal (emblem)|seal]], [[signature]], [[watermark]], special [[stationery]], or fingerprint.
* A [[shared secret]], such as a passphrase, in the content of the message.
* An [[electronic signature]]; [[public-key infrastructure]] is often used to cryptographically guarantee that a message has been signed by the holder of a particular private key.

The opposite problem is the detection of [[plagiarism]], where information from a different author is passed off as a person's own work. A common technique for proving plagiarism is the discovery of another copy of the same or very similar text, which has different attribution. In some cases, excessively high quality or a style mismatch may raise suspicion of plagiarism.