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6.3 – The CRAAP Test and Evaluating Resources

Learning Objectives

After completing this tutorial you will be able to:

  • identify key components to evaluating information,
  • apply the CRAAP test as an evaluation tool.

Why Is Evaluating Research Important?

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

A few years ago, a little-known animal species suddenly made headlines. The charming but elusive Tree Octopus became the focal point of internet scrutiny.

If you’ve never heard of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, take a few minutes to learn more about it on this website, devoted to saving the endangered species. You can also watch this brief video for more about the creatures:

Watch Save the Tree Octopus (2 mins) on YouTube

Video source: SaveTheTreeOctopus. (2008, November 16). Save the tree octopus [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/SU-yq_IJhtU

Save the tree octopus visual / flyer
“Help save the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus from extinction!” Source: Image of tree octopus by Kirt Baab, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

If you’re starting to get the feeling that something’s not quite right here, you’re on the right track. The Tree Octopus website is a hoax, although a beautifully done one (Figure 21.1). There is no such creature, unfortunately.

Many of us feel that “digital natives”–people who have grown up using the internet–are naturally web-savvy. However, a 2011 U.S. Department of Education study that used the Tree Octopus website as a focal point revealed that students who encountered this website completely fell for it. According to an NBC news story by Scott Beaulieu, “In fact, not only did the students believe that the tree octopus was real, they actually refused to believe researchers when they told them the creature was fake.”

While this is a relatively harmless example of a joke website, it helps to demonstrate that anyone can say anything they want on the internet. A good-looking website can be very convincing, regardless of what it says. The more you research, the more you’ll see that sometimes the least-professional-looking websites offer the most credible information, and the most-professional-looking websites can be full of biased, misleading, or outright wrong information.

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to resource reliability. Each new source has to be evaluated on its own merit, and this chapter will offer you a set of tools to help you do just that.

In this chapter, you’ll learn about tips and techniques to enable you to find, analyze, integrate, and document sources in your research.

Watch Evaluating internet sources and fake news with ncLibraries on YouTube (8 mins)

Evaluating Sources I

Evaluating Sources I (Text version)

Knowing how to evaluate information is only useful for school assignments. True or false?

Check your Answer: [1]

Consider the source:

Watch Consider the source on YouTube (1 min)

Evaluating Sources II

Evaluating Sources II (Text version)

Where can you look to find author information for a website:

  1. About
  2. Information
  3. All of the above
  4. None of the above

Check your Answer: [2]

Motivation & Bias:

Watch Motivation/bias on YouTube (2 mins)

Evaluating Sources III

Evaluating Sources III (Text version)

Shortening the URL to find the homepage of the site that you’re viewing might also give you information about any groups or organizations that this information is aligned with. True or false?

Check your Answer: [3]

Check the evidence:

Watch Evidence on YouTube (1 min)

Evaluating Sources IV

Evaluating Sources IV (Text version)

The more verifiable evidence that a site uses, the more likely that the information that site is trying to convey is accurate. True or false?

Check your Answer: [4]

Timeliness:

Watch Timeliness on YouTube (1 min)

Evaluating Sources IV

Evaluating Sources IV

Which of the following is important when evaluating a source from the web:

  1. The author or creator
  2. The date posted
  3. Supporting evidence
  4. All of the above
  5. None of the above

Check your Answer: [5]

Using CRAAP to Evaluate Source Material

When you search for information, you’re going to find lots of it . . . but is it good information? You will have to determine that for yourself, and the CRAAP Test can help. The CRAAP Test is a list of questions to help you evaluate the information you find. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need. The CRAAP Test was developed by the Meriam Library of California State University, Chico. You have read and/or save a handout they developed for the CRAAP test here.

Watch How library stuff works: How to evaluate resources (the CRAAP test) (2 mins) on YouTube

Video source: McMaster Libraries. (2015, January 23). How library stuff works: How to evaluate resources (the CRAAP test) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/_M1-aMCJHFg

Evaluating Sources VI

Evaluating Sources VI (Text version)

Which of the following is NOT part of the CRAAP test?

  1. Currency
  2. Relevance
  3. Authority
  4. Aptitude
  5. Purpose

Check your Answer: [6]

Questions to think about while conducting a CRAAP test

1. Currency: The timeliness of the information.

  • When was the information published or posted?
  • Has the information been revised or updated?
  • Does your topic require current information, or will older sources work as well?
  • Are the links functional?

Depending on your topic, sources can quickly become obsolete. In some fields, like cancer research, a source that is only a few years old might already be out of date. In other fields, like geology or history, data or facts that are decades old might still be relevant today. So pay attention to how rapidly the field is changing. You can consult your professor or a research librarian about whether a source should be considered up to date.

2. Relevance: The importance of the information for 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 the one you will use?
  • Would you be comfortable citing this source in your research paper?

Your task as a researcher is to determine the appropriateness of the information your source contains, for your particular research project. It is a simple question, really: will this source help me answer the research questions that I am posing in my project? Will it help me learn as much as I can about my topic? Will it help me write an interesting, convincing essay for my readers?

3. Authority: The source of the information.

  • Who is the author / publisher / source / sponsor?
  • What are the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations?
  • Is the author qualified to write on the topic?
  • Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?
  • Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source (examples: .com .edu .gov .org .net)?

To determine whether a source’s author and publisher are trustworthy, you should use an Internet search engine to check out their backgrounds and expertise. If you cannot find further information about the author or publisher—or if you find questionable credentials or reputations—you should look for other sources that are more credible.

4. Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content.

  • 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 unbiased and free of emotion?
  • Are there spelling, grammar or typographical errors?

You should be able to confirm your source’s evidence by consulting other independent sources. If just one source offers a specific piece of evidence, you should treat it as unverified and use it cautiously, if at all. If multiple sources offer the same or similar kinds of evidence, then you can rely on those sources with much more confidence.

5. Purpose: The reason the information exists.

  • What is the purpose of the information? Is it to inform, teach, sell, entertain or persuade?
  • Do the authors / sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
  • Is the information fact, opinion or propaganda?
  • Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
  • Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?

All sources have some bias because authors and publishers have their own ideas and opinions (see Figure 21.2). When you are assessing the bias of a source, consider how much the author or publisher wants the evidence to be true. If it seems like the author or publisher would only accept one kind of answer from the outset (e.g., “climate change is a liberal conspiracy”), the evidence should be considered too biased to be reliable. On the other hand, if the author and publisher seem open to a range of possible conclusions, you can feel more confident about using the source.

TIP

As a researcher, you need to keep your own biases in mind as you assess your sources. Try viewing your sources from alternative perspectives, even perspectives you disagree with. Knowing your own biases and seeing the issue from other perspectives will help you gain a richer understanding of your topic. With that in mind, the following types of sources generally are not acceptable for an academic essay in college, although that depends on the nature of the essay:

  • Blogs, podcasts, and anything else that is clearly opinion-based
  • Social Media
  • Wikis
  • Anything with a clear political or religious agenda

What makes news “fake”?

Watch Fake news on YouTube (2 mins)

Evaluating Resources VII

Evaluating Resources VII (Text version)

You can trust the headline to represent the content of an online news source. True or false?

Check your Answer: [7]

Conclusion: be a skeptic!

Watch Summary on YouTube (1 min)

Evaluating Sources IX

Evaluating Sources IX (Text version)

Fill in the missing words

Evaluating your sources helps you construct stronger (a)                             and make better (b)                          .

Check your Answer: [8]

Questions?

Contact the library!


Attribution & References

This chapter (text, H5P activities and embedded videos) was adapted from

References & Credits from videos in this section:

Except for screenshots or otherwise indicated, photographs are used under an Unsplash.com license.

Slide 2: Wei, H. (Photographer). [Untitled image of thinking person] [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/@herlifeinpixels?photo=aso6SYJZGps

Slide 6: Lark, B. (Photographer). [Untitled image of person holding calendar] [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/calendar?photo=BRBjShcA8D4

Slide 9: Silas, J. (Photographer). [Untitled image of book with magnifying glass and pen] [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/@joaosilas?photo=I_LgQ8JZFGE

Slide 10: Simcoe, J. (Photographer). [Untitled image of book with magnifying glass and pen] [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/search/ask-more-questions?photo=GxnyOLTxCr8

Blakeslee, S. (2010). Evaluating information – Applying the CRAAP test. http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf

International Federation of Library Associations. (2017). How to spot fake news.  https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174

Manadlios, J. (2013). RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate internet sources. Journal of Information Science, 39(4), 470-478. doi: 10.1177/016555151347889

Media Attributions

  • image3-12

  1. False
  2. 3. If author information is not clearly stated elsewhere, check the "about" or "information" pages of a website may provide additional clues.
  3. True. Shortening the url to find the homepage of a site is a helpful way to trace back the source.
  4. True. The more evidence to support a claim, the better!
  5. 4. All of the criteria listed are important for evaluating internet resources.
  6. Aptitude is not part of the CRAAP test.
  7. False. You should always read beyond the headline.
  8. (a) arguments (b) decisions.

License

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6.3 - The CRAAP Test and Evaluating Resources Copyright © 2022 by Jen Booth, Emily Cramer & Amanda Quibell, Georgian College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.