What is the difference between relevance and credibility/validity, when it comes to the secondary sources you will use for your projects?

Relevance is more straightforward:

• Does the source connect to your topic?
• Does it contribute to your argument or provide a contrasting perspective that you must respond to in order to demonstrate you understand the complexity of your topic? 

Credibility, or validity, is more complex and can involve several factors:

• Who is the author and what evidence can you find that they have the authority to discuss the topic?
  • This can be tricky sometimes, because authors may write on topics that are related to their fields, but which may not seem directly connected.
• What can you find out about the publisher or publication, whether it is a book, scholarly article, newspaper article, or blog post?
• Is the date important? 
  • This could also fall under relevance, if, for example, your professor requires sources from the last 10 years.
• Other types of criteria to consider when examining the source in more depth include objectivity, purpose, or audience.

In evaluating sources for relevance and credibility, generally start with relevance:

• • What types of publications will your professor accept for the project?
    • Publication type
    • Intended audience
  • Read title and abstract, if one available
  • Examine subjects or keywords assigned to the source
  • Skim content and/or opening and closing paragraphs
• If seems relevant, then next step is determining credibility before delving in more deeply