The wrong question
Most people ask "is this true?" A better question is "does this change what I do next?"
A claim can be perfectly accurate and still worthless to you, because it does not touch any decision you are actually facing.
Three fast filters
- Specificity — does the source name numbers, conditions, and trade-offs, or only outcomes?
- Falsifiability — could the claim be shown wrong? If not, treat it as opinion.
- Transferability — do the author's starting conditions resemble yours?
A source that fails all three is entertainment. That is fine — just do not file it as evidence.
What to do with what is left
Write the single decision the source informs, and the single action it changes. If you cannot write both sentences, the source did not earn your time.