It is important to critically appraise the types of sources that are valued in different spaces, and what is considered authoritative information.
In academia, authority is often expertise and influence recognized and exerted within a discipline. In any area of scholarship, there are people who have published influential works and who are considered to be experts in the topics they research and write about. Outside academia, we may assume the government is a source of authority. You might use government reports or stats because the government has a vested interest in collecting and disseminating some kinds of information, and you feel confident that their material is credible. However, evaluating authority isn’t always this simple.
Authority is constructed and contextual in that who is considered authoritative depends on the community or area of interest, and what is considered authoritative information depends on the needs and context in which it is to be used. Peer-reviewed academic journal articles may be considered highly authoritative when used as a source in an academic assignment. But a research article about aerospace engineering wouldn't hold the same authority if you were writing about leadership in healthcare. Different communities may recognize different sources of authority. Someone with traditional knowledge about the plants that grow best in a specific area may be an authority for others in their community, and that knowledge may also be valuable in other contexts, but their authority may not be valued to the same degree depending on the community in question. Someone who shares videos teaching how do car maintenance and repairs at home may be an authority in that context, whereas someone who is considered an influential voice in research on electrical circuits may not be an authority when you need to learn how to change a broken headlight.
We can’t assume that only people with advanced degrees or positions of power are sources of authority. We need to think critically about information sources, consider who created them, why they created them, who they created them for, what evidence exists to support the claims, and what bias the authors might hold. You should also examine what bias you might have on a topic. If you want to read about the influence of farming practices on crop yields, for example, do you prioritize the opinions of farmers over botanists? Also consider that academia privileges the voices and information from sources of established power and authority structures, which means Indigenous and marginalized authorities and perspectives are often excluded.
It takes time and effort to critically analyze and question authority, and these are just a few points to consider, but questioning the position of authors will help you build the best, well-rounded and credible resources arguments on your topic.