Knowing what types of sources you have available to you for your research will help you pick the right type of source to meet the requirements of your assignment.
Before you jump into hunting and gathering your information, be sure you know how not to be fooled by unreliable, false, or misleading information. It's not hard if you train yourself to ask some simple questions based on the CRAAP Test.
While applying the CRAAP Test to a Web site, that Web site isn't always the best place to answer questions concerning authority, accuracy, and point of view. You can not always trust what an author or organization says about themselves, and there are sites that may look very professional and credible that are actually promoting a certain agenda or viewpoint.
If you are unfamiliar with a online source, it is good practice to open a new tab and perform a search on the author/organization providing the source. This process is called Lateral Reading. In addition to reading "down" the Web page in order to evaluate it, you open additional tabs and read "across" multiple pages to determine what others are saying about your potential source.
To learn more about lateral reading, check out our Lateral Reading - Consult Other Sources and our Tools to Use for Lateral Reading pages.