Unless otherwise instructed by your teacher, you'll probably want to use a variety sources to help you gain a complete understanding of your topic. Sources of information generally fall within three categories. These categories are Popular, Substantive, and Scholarly (or Peer Reviewed). To use them skillfully you need to be able to identify them and understand their differences.
Watch the brief video below for more information:
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When you use Google or any social media to get your information how do you know it can be trusted? How do you know it's not biased?
You can feel pretty confident that books you get from the library and articles you find in the library's databases are reliable because someone or some group has checked all the facts and arguments the author made before publishing them. You still have to think about whether or not the book or article is current and suitable for your project but you can feel confident that it is a trustworthy source.
Make sure each and every source you plan on using in your paper or research assignment passes the CRAAP test.
You can click on the image below to see the full research guide entitled, Evaluate Your Sources.
Watch the brief video below to see how this works.