Which step involves evaluating reliability?

• A. Cite your sources
• B. Evaluate your sources (reliability)
• C. Find & retrieve resources
• D. Choose & refine your topic

Answer: (B)

Evaluating reliability is about critically judging whether sources are trustworthy and appropriate for your purpose. This involves checking who wrote the information and their expertise, where it was published and the publication’s reputation, whether the claims are supported with solid evidence and citations, whether there’s any bias or conflicting interests, and how current the material is. When a source meets these credibility checks, you can rely on it to inform your work; if not, you’d look for more credible alternatives. This step directly targets credibility and trustworthiness. Other steps serve different functions: finding and retrieving resources is the discovery phase, choosing and refining your topic shapes the scope, and citing your sources concerns attribution and avoiding plagiarism.