When searching in Google, we often type in a question and a source appears in the results that answers our question, but while it may answer your question, consider the following:

Who created it?

If a person(s) is named as author, look into them.

• What is their occupation? Does it make them more likely to be reliable and knowledgeable about this topic?
• Are they relating personal experiences (first hand primary account about something)?  Are they potentially biased about this topic as a result?
• If not relating personal experiences, why are they qualified to discuss this topic?
• Why are they creating this source?  Do they discuss their motivations?
• When they provide statistics or information, do they provide sources for this information?

If no person is named, in most cases the source is created by business or organization that owns the site where you found the information.  Find out more about them.

• What is this organization or business?  What is their mission or goal? (look at their website, their is usually an about us page, but also look at Wikipedia entries and outside sources to find out more about them)
• Why are they providing this information?  
• Could they be providing biased information about themselves?
• When they provide statistics or information not about themselves, do they provide sources for this information?

When was it published?

This is often hard to determine as internet sources, particularly websites, don't always have a date indicating when the information on a particular page was updated or created.  Copyright dates are not indicators of when the information on a particular page was updated, they refer to when the copyright for the entire website was updated.  If there is a date of when something when was posted or updated, you can easily see how up to date the source is, but if there is only a copyright date, you cannot assume the information is up to date.  

What kind of source is it?

Websites

• Created by individuals, businesses, governments, and organizations.  
• Offer information about businesses and organizations
• Can provide value statistics, data, and reports (more often government, business, and organization websites)
• Different domains (.edu, .gov, .org, and .com) for different types of websites
  • Evaluating a  source solely on domain is more of a surface evaluation
  • Look deeper into the organization/business/government/educational body producing the content
    • these can be biased and outdated
  • Not all .com websites are bad 

So knowing who is behind the website should be weighed just as much if more than the web address domain.

Blogs

• Written by an individual or organization
• One viewpoint on a topic, often personal experiences, potential for bias as a result
• More in-depth piece, usually offers sources in more well done blogs

Social Media

• Written by an individual and some organizations and businesses
• Rapidly produced, often go out of date quickly
• Offer limited information (limited post length in some cases)

Government Documents

• Often found through government websites, produced by lawmakers, government departments, offices, or committees
• Often a delay in most current statistics or reports due to the time intensive gathering process 
• Older reports and information are made available for reference, but make sure you are using the most recent

What kind of information does it provide?

• If relating personal experiences or opinions through a blog or social media, how does this relate to your topic?
  • How will you use it?  What does it demonstrate to your reader?
  • How could you use a publication's or individual's opinion?
  • Is it representative of a general consensus by one side?
  • Could it be useful to compare opinions from different sides of the same issue?
• Is it providing general or basic information about a topic?  What are you going to use it for?
• Does it provide valuable insight into a business or organization that helps you describe them?
• If providing statistics and other data, how was this obtained?  Do they point you to sources for it?
• Does it summarize research by someone else?  Would it be better to examine the research for yourself?

How does it relate to your topic?

A source that answers a question you have is helpful, but that should not be the only reason it is relevant for your topic.

• How close is the creator to the issue or event?  This can affect relevance.  A writer writing about personal experiences with an issue is a better source than one writing as an outsider.  
  • This is particularly important when considering whether to include a social media post or not.  People often use social media to show their support for an issue or event, but sometimes do not have relevant experience or involvement with the issue.
• If they interview a person, how close to the event or issue is the person being interviewed?
• How would a person's opinion fit within your paper?  What makes that person's opinion valuable or relevant to the topic?  What is their expertise with it?

The goal when selecting sources is not to find sources that only reflect exactly the argument you are trying to make.  You are looking for sources that provide the information that will provide evidence for the various points that support your argument.

Why choose this source over a more stable/trustworthy format like scholarly or news sources?