How do students make sense of sources encountered during online inquiry, when the source types can be as varied as the topics themselves? This paper presents findings from a multiple-case study exploring how four 8th grade students evaluated source credibility while engaged in independent research during an inquiry-based information literacy curriculum. This cross-case Yinian case study explores each student's challenges through research and instructional lenses, including sources cited, strategies implemented, and the diversity of obstacles students encountered during their independent inquiry. Findings indicated that each student's inquiry elicited specific challenges: a student researching climate justice mistakes scientific consensus for public agreement, a student researching a current event keeps pace with rapidly evolving information, and a student determined to ban homework encounters confirmation bias. Lessons learned from these cases align with implications for pragmatic classroom instruction.