Great question. A "good" source is both credible and relevant.
Relevancy means the source helps you answer your questions, learn widely about your topic, and think about your topic in new ways.
Credibility, when applied to an information source, means trustworthy. Trustworthiness is tricky to determine. Some evaluative questions to keep in mind include:
- Is this information deliberately biased, and is the creator transparent about that bias?
- Who created it? Are they an expert? Do they need to be?
- When was it published? What is the publication, and does that publication have a good reputation?
- Why was it published: to inform, persuade, entertain, etc.?
- Does it cite its sources? Does that matter for your intended use of the information?
Ultimately it is up to you to determine — using research and your own critical judgment and The CRAP Test — whether a source is credible or not. And "credible" can mean something and look different to everyone. Your instructors expect you to use credible, authoritative information in your projects and papers, so be upfront and clear about why you trust the information your choose to use.
CCC Librarians are here to help you with this question, too. ♥
Abe adapted from public domain photo Abraham Lincoln [image]. (1863). Available from https://upload.wikimedia.org/