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Examples of self-published sources. Almost all websites except for those published by traditional publishers (such as news media organizations), including: Blogs; Web forums; Wikis; Social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and LinkedIn; Sites with user-generated content, including YouTube, Tik Tok, and Find A Grave
Scholarly sources and high-quality non-scholarly sources are generally better than news reports for academic topics (see § Scholarship, above). Press releases from organizations or journals are often used by newspapers with minimal change; such sources are churnalism and should not be treated differently than the underlying press release.
Briefly: published scholarly sources from academic presses should be used. Historical research involves the collection of original or “primary” documents (the job of libraries and archives), the close reading of the documents, and their interpretation in terms of larger historical issues.
Awards and accolades might matter some, depending on the source, but it's probably best to avoid giving much importance to man-of-the-year type logrolling. Most everyone has enemies, so a lot of people have been called a liar by somebody. If there's a pattern of disinterested people doing that then it might indicate a problem.
Sources that are reliable for some material are not reliable for other material. For instance, otherwise unreliable self-published sources are usually acceptable to support uncontroversial information about the source's author. You should always try to use the best possible source, particularly when writing about living people.
Sources of information are commonly categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary sources.In brief, a primary source is one close to the event with firsthand knowledge (for example, an eyewitness); a secondary source is at least one step removed (for example, a book about an event written by someone not involved in it); and a tertiary source is an encyclopaedia or textbook that provides a ...
Exercise caution when using such sources: if the information in question is suitable for inclusion, someone else will probably have published it in independent reliable sources. Never use self-published sources as third-party sources about living people, even if the author is an expert, well-known professional researcher, or writer.
Be especially careful when sourcing content related to living people or medicine. If available, academic and peer-reviewed publications are usually the most reliable sources on topics such as history, medicine, and science. Editors may also use material from reliable non-academic sources, particularly if it appears in respected mainstream ...