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It is incredibly important to evaluate your sources and understand how we think about personal bias within research. 

Understanding personal thoughts, knowledge, and biases when it comes to a topic is incredibly important. You can critically think about how resources and the topic effect you by doing the following: 

The Personal steps: IF I 

Identify emotions attached to the topic.

• What are your honest opinions regarding the topic?
• Have you addressed your internal biases?
• Make an all-inclusive list of counter-opinions or counter-arguments.

Find unbiased reference sources that will provide a proper and informative overview of the topic.

• Conduct a general knowledge overview.
• Search for information in: encyclopedias, wikis, dictionaries, etc.

Intellectual courage is needed to seek authoritative voices on the topic that may fall outside your comfort zones of thesis. 

• Identify credible materials for all of the viewpoints - yours and the additional you identified. 
• Reject unsound arguments - have the courage to accept that not all viewpoints are valid.

After you are aware how the topic and resources personally effect you, you need to think about the content of the resources your are looking at. You should figure out the following before applying it to your research. 

Source Steps: APPLY

Authority established.

• Who is the author and/or publisher?
• What are the credentials and affiliation or sponsorship of any named individuals or organizations?
• How objective, reliable, and authoritative are they?

Purpose/Point of view.

• Does the author have an agenda beyond education or information?
• What can be said about the content, context, style, structure, completeness and accuracy of the information provided the source?
• Are any conclusions offered? If so, based on what evidence and supported by what primary and secondary documentation? 
• What is implied by the content?
• Are diverse perspectives represented? 
• Is the content relevant to your information needs?
• Why was the information provided by the source published? 
• What are the perspectives, opinions, assumptions and biases of whoever is responsible for this information?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is anything being sold? 

Publisher. 

• Does the publisher have an agenda?
• When was the information published?
• publication date is generally located on the title page or on the reverse side of the title page (copyright date). 
• Is the information provided by the source in its original form or has it been revised to reflect changes in knowledge?
• Has the publisher published other works? 
• Is this information timely and is it updated regularly? 
• Is the publisher scholarly? Commercial? Government agency? Self press?

List of sources.

• Where else can the information provided by the source be found?
• Is this information authentic? 
• Is this information unique or has it been copied?

Year of publication

• What makes information "current" or relevant?
• Is this information current? Can you find more current or relevant information? 
• Is the cited information current? Make sure work is not based on outdated research, statistics, data, etc.
• Is the information routinely updated?