Digital, AI & Creative Skills
Judge Source Quality
This lesson helps students judge whether a source is trustworthy. They check the author, the publisher, the evidence, and how recent it is, then build a Source Quality Card.
What you will learn
- Understand that source quality is built from four specific signals (author, publisher, evidence, recency), and that judging a source fast requires knowing what to check first.
- Recognise common low quality source patterns on the modern internet: anonymous claims, broken citation chains, obvious conflict of interest, and confident assertions without evidence.
- Apply a fast 30 second source quality check combining the four signals and the three red flag patterns, to sort any source as probably strong, probably weak, or worth checking more carefully.
- Combine the four signals, the three red flags, and the fast check into a one page Source Quality Card for a specific source the student plans to use in real research.
What happens in this lesson
Chapter 1: What Makes A Source Good?
Understand that source quality is built from four specific signals (author, publisher, evidence, recency), and that judging a source fast requires knowing what to check first.
What you make: A saved source signal note listing, for one real source, what each of the four signals looks like on that specific site.
Chapter 2: Common Weak Patterns
Recognise common low quality source patterns on the modern internet: anonymous claims, broken citation chains, obvious conflict of interest, and confident assertions without evidence.
What you make: A saved weak pattern note describing three common low quality patterns the student has seen in real sources and why each one is a warning sign.
Chapter 3: The 30 Second Check
Apply a fast 30 second source quality check combining the four signals and the three red flag patterns, to sort any source as probably strong, probably weak, or worth checking more carefully.
What you make: A saved fast check note running the 30 second check on two different sources side by side, with a one line verdict on each.
Chapter 4: Source Quality Card
Combine the four signals, the three red flags, and the fast check into a one page Source Quality Card for a specific source the student plans to use in real research.
What you make: A saved Source Quality Card for one real source covering the four signals, red flag check, and final verdict with one line of reasoning.
Chapter 5: Compare Sources, Not Just Pages
Evaluate multiple sources on the same claim, compare their strengths and weaknesses, and decide which source set is most trustworthy overall.
What you make: A saved comparison note ranking three sources on one claim and explaining which source is strongest, which is weakest, and why.
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