How do I evaluate the quality of a website or other information source?
Answer
You want to remember the acronym: TRAAP. TRAAP stands for Timeliness, Reliability, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.
Was the resource published recently or at a time that is appropriate for what you’re researching? Is it from a reliable source who has expert/professional knowledge in that subject area? What sort of authority does the author have? Are they a practicing professional or something with some other form of experience in that subject area? How accurate is the information? Does it cite its own sources or provide you with the details needed to gauge its accuracy yourself? And lastly, why was it written? Does it seem like it was written to inform you? Otherwise, do you have any reason to suspect the author has their own agenda and are biased?
Here is a short (2:58) video on evaluating sources: https://youtu.be/Db8fgDHtrrY