Determining whether they are scholarly, peer-reviewed sources or whether they are from popular sources
Evaluating whether or not they will be a good fit for your assignment
To find out how reliable a source is, it's helpful to consider the following:
Author
Are they a scholar? Journalist? What are their credentials? Are they obviously biased a certain way? Are they a member of a strongly-leaning group or organization?
Audience
Who was this written for? Students and other scholars? Popular consumption?
Publisher
Who is the institution responsible for the publication of this source, and how credible are they?
Purpose
Why was this written? To report insight in a particular field? To relay news or entertain?
Watch the video below to learn more about determining the credibility of sources: