On the Internet, where anyone may publish anything relatively easy, the huge quantity of extant information makes the use of search engines commonplace. However, search engines cannot rank the returned documents for credibility. This is left to the student, with a potential mountain of chaff mixed in with tasty morsels of wheat. In the end, it is usually left to the document to speak for itself in terms of its content validity, and ultimate credibility lies in the critical literacy of the reader. Although this may seem like a burden, it is also a great liberation.
Critical literacy is needed for a true democracy to function.