Be sure the information you select is the information you need! 

Assess your Information & Sources

 Currency

• How recent is the information?
• When was it published?
• Is it current enough for your purposes?

Reliability

• What kind of information is included in the resource?
• Is content of the resource informative rather primarily opinion?  Is it balanced?
• Does it include references or sources for data, claims, and quotations? 

Authority

• Who is the author or creator?
• What are their credentials?
• Who is the publisher or sponsor?
• What is the publisher's interest (if any) in this information?
• If you need scholarly information, is this a scholarly article? 
  • Is it written by academics? 
  • Is the information thoroughly documented with in-text citations a references list?

Purpose/Point of View

• Is the source: Informative? Opinion? Entertainment? 
• If from a scholarly journal, is the actual article a scholarly study? Or is it a book review? Opinion piece? 
• Does the focus of the piece fulfill your assignment needs?
• What is its point of view?
• Is the creator/author trying to sell you something?