Your Source Quality Checklist

Apply these steps before trusting any source:

• Check credentials — does the author have relevant expertise? Can you verify who they are?
• Identify the purpose — inform, persuade, sell, or entertain? Adjust your trust accordingly.
• Look for citations — good sources reference their own sources; unsourced claims are red flags.
• Trace to primary sources — follow the chain back to the original data or document.
• Cross-reference — check whether other credible sources report the same thing independently.

Your beliefs are only as good as the sources they rest on.