General questions for content

What is the purpose of the document?
Is the content factual or with opinions?
Is the author's point of view objective and unbiased?
Are other sources reported in a clear and consistent way?
Is the language factual and correct?
Does the work have a clear outline?
Who is the target group?

Questions for content in scientific publications

Is it clear how the study was carried out?
Are the results and conclusions reasonable?
Does anything seem controversial?
Is the study designed by someone who has an interest in which result is shown?

Different subjects can ask different questions. One way to review the content might be to see if there are review templates, standard questions, for scientific publications in your subject.

You must always evaluate whether the publication is relevant to you and your task.

Time

Certain subject areas, in for example, natural science and information technology, often set higher requirements that the source be relatively recent, while some other areas in, for example, the humanities can use sources from older dates. Keep in mind that the time between when a researcher has done a study and when it is published can be long, in some cases several years.

When was the document published, is it current enough?
Is the method still relevant?
Has much happened in the field since the study was done?