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Lateral Reading
Many biased or unreliable sites may have a professional design and claim to be an authoritative source (no one online is going to say they are biased!). When you locate sources from organizations or authors you are unfamiliar with, instead of looking for information about an organization on its own page, go to Google or another search engine and search for that organization or author and see what others say about it.
Vertical Reading (staying on the page)
If you were to view the About page on the American College of Pediatricians website, you would see that they describe themselves as "a national organization of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children." It is true that members are pediatricians and healthcare professionals. However....
Lateral Reading (going outside the source)
If you were to search for the American College of Pediatricians in a search engine, you would see that they are described as "socially conservative" and an "anti-LGBTQ hate group."
Understanding Bias
It is still possible to use and learn from biased sources. However, keep in mind that sources that have a bias toward one side of an issue will typically not include research, data, statistics etc. that contradict or undermine their position. You also risk undermining your own argument by using evidence or information from a biased source. It's usually best to seek similar information from a more neutral source.
Site Limits
One of the ways you can limit an internet search to more credible sources is to limit to specific domains.
.edu
Sites with a .edu ending are mostly (with one exception) from an educational institution. This can be colleges, universities, occasionally K-12 schools, and the Smithsonian. .edu is a restricted domain, which means it is not available for the general public or other organizations to use unless they fit those parameters. The only exception is academia.edu, a research-sharing platform, which was grandfathered in when the domain became restricted.
To limit your search to these sites, type site:edu (no spaces!) at the end of your search. If there is a space, it will not limit your results correctly.
Educational institutions in the United Kingdom use the ending .ac.uk, so you can search site:ac.uk to include those results.
.gov
Site with a .gov ending are from entities in the United States government. This can be within the national, state, or local government.
To limit your search to these sites, type site:gov (no spaces!) at the end of your search. If there is a space, it will not limit your results correctly.
Please note that the new presidential administration has requested a review of all federal website content to identify and update certain terms, as well as remove some content. This means that search results may result in broken links or content has been changed very recently. One option to try to view removed information is to put the URL in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine and see if an archived copy exists. There are also browser extensions available.
PubMed is a publicly accessible database of research hosted by the National Institutes of Health, so you may see many results from pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov in your search results when limiting to .gov sites. This database contains many scholarly journal articles, but not all have the full text available. Check Google Scholar and/or with a librarian to locate the full text of an article you are interested in.
Government sites in the United Kingdom use the ending .gov.uk, so you can search site:gov.uk to include those results.
What About .Org Sites?
The .org ending is not restricted, which means anyone can purchase a site with a .org ending with no verification. This ending was originally intended for non-profit organizations but no longer has that restriction. Keep in mind that many non-profit organizations may have a bias or particular stance they are advocating for. This means that you need to use lateral reading for all .org sites before deciding if they are a reliable source of information.
Suggested Sources
Here are a few suggested sources you may wish to consult in your research.