One of the most important parts of research is the evaluation of your sources. Before using the articles or books you find, you should be sure that they're trustworthy and conveying factual, legitimate information. Think about the following when doing so:
Authority & Credibility - Who is the author? What are their credentials? Are they an expert in the field, a reporter for a magazine, newspaper, or website, or are they someone who's simply pushing an agenda.
Currency - When was this source written? Is it something that's very current or is it several years old? How much does timeliness matter when it comes to the topic you're researching?
Source - Where did this come from? Was it published by a respected newspaper/magazine, a scholarly journal, a government agency, or is it from somebody's blog or a private company's website? Those last two don't necessarily mean you shouldn't trust it, but you should dig a little deeper to make sure the author has the credentials to back up their claims.
Lateral Reading is a quick & effective method of evaluating web sources. When you're trying to figure out whether a particular website or article is trustworthy, just open a new tab (move "laterally"), Google the site or author, and read what OTHER PEOPLE have to say about them. Check out newspaper articles or Wikipedia to see if they have a financial or political agenda on the topic. If they do, their information and arguments may not be trustworthy because it's in their interest to convince others to come to their side, even if the facts don't back up their claims.
Watch this quick video from the Stanford Libraries to get a deeper understanding of lateral reading.
