1. As you conduct research for your paper, and decide
which sources you plan to use, I want to give you an
easy system for determining the credibility of your
sources…
2. First, think about the following questions:
Why is it important to evaluate sources?
What do you look for in a “good” source?
What would make you think a source or website
was untrustworthy?
3. How to Evaluate Internet Resources.
Here are a few things to look for:
• Currency
• Relevance
• Authority
• Accuracy
• Purpose
4. Currency: Timeliness of Info
• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the information current or out-of date for your
topic?
• Are the links functional?
5. Relevance: The Importance of the Info to Your Needs
• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your
question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too
elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before
determining this is one you will use?
6. Authority: Who is the Source of the Info?
• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations
given? If yes, what are they?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
Google the author’s name if you have to.
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or e-mail
address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source?
examples: .com .edu .gov .org .net
7. Accuracy:
How Reliable, Truthful, or Correct is this Info?
• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from
personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?
8. Purpose: Why does the information exist?
• What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach?
sell? entertain? persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose
clear?
• Is the information fact? opinion? propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious,
institutional, or personal biases?
10. • Articles may be heavily biased, incomplete, or
vandalized.
• May contain obvious oversights or omissions.
• Many contributors do not cite their sources.
• Bibliographies are frequently incomplete or out-of-date.
• Credentials of authors vary.
• Continually edited - >100,000 edits/day.
• Can propagate misinformation.
Wikipedia: Why do your instructors say no?
11. Wikipedia: How to use it as a tool
• Useful for background information.
• Contains many viable links and references.
• Excels in topics on current events, popular culture,
emerging technology, and obscure subjects.
• Don’t CITE it! Cite sources it links to, if you find them to
be credible, accurate, useful, etc.
12. Let’s try it out…
Go to this week’s folder in Blackboard and open the
CRAAP_Test Worksheet.
Find three sources you MIGHT use in your essay and evaluate
them using the CRAAP test. Upload the worksheet to
Blackboard.
Editor's Notes
Have them name some things, make a list on the board of why they think it’s important to evaluate websites, or what sort of criteria you need to be looking for.
The other thing to remember is that once you become skilled at evaluating Internet resources, you will become better at evaluating other types of sources (library resources, etc.)
Have them name some things, make a list on the board of why they think it’s important to evaluate websites, or what sort of criteria you need to be looking for.
The other thing to remember is that once you become skilled at evaluating Internet resources, you will become better at evaluating other types of sources (library resources, etc.)
So now that we all agree that it’s a good idea to evaluate websites, let’s talk about HOW to do this.
There are lots of different guides online or cute little acronyms for remembering the different components of evaluating websites, but this is my favorite, mostly because it’s easy to remember and covers the most important areas.
CRAAP Test
Let’s talk about what each of these means:
Currency:
When was the information published or posted?
Has the information been revised or updated?
Is the information current or out-of date for your topic?
Are the links functional?
Relevance
Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
Who is the intended audience?
Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
Authority
Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given? If yes, what are they?
What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
Is there contact information, such as a publisher or e-mail address?
Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source?
examples: .com .edu .gov .org .net
Accuracy
Where does the information come from?
Is the information supported by evidence?
Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?
Purpose
What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach? sell? entertain? persuade?
Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
Is the information fact? opinion? propaganda?
Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?
I usually use the entry for Sesame Street on wikipedia as a really good example of an entry with a lot of good references and external links, etc. If you know of another entry like this off hand, feel free to use that. It really doesn’t matter—the point is just to reinforce that it should be used to find out more info about a topic, but not something you’d want to cite.
I usually tell them that the main reason I wouldn’t cite it is that it’s dynamic—so if someone went back to look at what you cited, it might be different when they look at the entry.