When evaluating a source, whether it is scholarly or not, it is important to be a critical reader and not to trust everything you read at first glance. See below for some resources on lateral reading - an easy-to-use, quick, and powerful technique used by professional fact-checkers to verify the legitimacy of websites, news articles, and more.
Critical appraisal is an important skill for all healthcare professionals. Essentially, critically appraising research literature means not trusting it at face value. Instead, it is important to evaluate the methods, approaches, and conclusions of the article - determining not only its scientific validity but also its relevance to your research/clinical question.
How to Read a Paper by