It is important to evaluate your sources for relevancy and credibility. Although this is a particular concern for sources on the World Wide Web, it is also important to consider sources you find in library databases. Although most are vetted in some way, they are intended for a variety of audiences with differing standards of editorial control. These guides give you some ideas on how to evaluate a variety of sources.
Lateral reading is a good practice for evaluating sources. It is the process of "verifying [cross-checking] what you're reading as you're reading it." (Difference Between Lateral Reading and Vertical Reading)
For additional information, refer to this handout:
Video was created by Robert Detmering, Amber Willenborg, and Terri Holtze for University of Louisville Libraries as part of the Civic Literacy project and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
As part of lateral reading, be sure to SIFT: Stop, Investigate, Find Better Coverage, and Trace Claims/Quotes/Media!
More information about SIFT: