lesson 4: evaluating sources

Lesson 4: Evaluating Sources CRAAP Test

How do YOU evaluate info?• When YOU do a

Google search, HOW do you decide what results are good?

• What would help you be better at evaluating information?

KEY RESEARCH SKILL =

Ability to evaluate ANY type of information source to see if it meets your needs

Being able to find good sources…

… in the Age ofInformation

Overload

Format• Most students consider FORMAT to be

THE most important criterion for selecting sources

• Joe Student: “INTERNET is best!!!”

• “A source should be judged for what it contains, NOT how it is stored or produced” (Quaratiello, 2011, p. 21).

Content vs. Format

Content

Format

“While evaluating the information you find in books and periodicals is important, evaluating web-based material is absolutely crucial”

(Quaratiello, 2011, p. 20).

WHY?

Quality

Quantity

Internet sources

Often hard to tell:

1. WHO wrote the info

2. WHO published the info

3. HOW accurate it is

4. WHERE they got their info

5. WHEN it was posted

There are many models of evaluation

• Relevance/Credibility Model

• CARS Model

•CRAAP Test

CRAAP Test

CRAAP Test

• Currency

• Relevance

• Authority

• Accuracy

• Purpose

Applying the CRAAP Test:

CURRENCY

CRAAP Test

CURRENCY• DATE the item was published (or last

updated)

Ask yourself…

•Is the information current enough for your research needs?

BUT…

•Is the most current information always the best?

CURRENCY

MOST CURRENT

• Science• Health/medicine• Business

OLDER SOURCES

• Historical topics• Humanities• Literature

When do older sources work well?

RELEVANCE

CRAAP Test

RELEVANCE

• Does the information relate appropriately to your topic or help answer your research question?

• Who is the intended audience?

Audience

• WHOM is it written for?

• Consider your own level of knowledge in selecting a source.

Level

• Is it at a level that you can understand and use?–Too easy–Too difficult

Ask yourself: Would you be comfortable citing this source in your research paper?

AUTHORITY

CRAAP Test

AUTHORITY• QUALIFICATIONS of the writer

- Image copyrighted by Wikimedia foundation

WHO?

Author

You are looking for…• Expert in field/ subject matter expert

• “Peer review”

• On websites: Look for About link

• Contact information– Publisher– Email address

Using URLs to analyze site host• .com

• .org

• .edu

• .gov

ACCURACY

CRAAP Test

Where does the info come from?• Different types of sources pull their

information from different places.

• The type of source can give you an idea of where the information they used came from.

Cycle of Information

At what stage of the cycle of information was your source written?

And what does this mean?

Cycle of Information

Turn on the

News

Newspapers

Magazines

ScholarlyJournals

Event Happens

Books

Coverage and Perspective• As an event occurs, you get live

reporting and footage.

• Immediately after an event, you get more reporting and eyewitness accounts.

• The further away from an event that you get, the more ANALYSIS you will find. • News Analysis

• Expert Analysis• Scholarly Analysis

Is the information supported by…

• Are the sources listed?– Are they scholarly?– Are they popular?– Are they credible?– How old are they?

• Can they be checked?

EVIDENCE?

GOAL:

A source with verifiable sources of information

CONTENT• Has the information been reviewed or

refereed?

Checking for Accuracy

“With clear documentation, a reader can hypothetically check the ACCURACY of a given source”(Quaratiello, 2011, p. 29).

Does the language or tone seem…

Unbiased?

Free of emotion?

ACCURACY• Absence of errors – spelling,

grammar, typos

CRAAP Test

PURPOSE

PURPOSE

• WHY the item was written

WHY?

InformEntertainPersuade

GOAL:

A source that is informational and unbiased.

Point of view vs. Bias

POINT OF VIEW• Every source is going

to have a point of view.

• Does the author tell you his/her point of view?

• Are both sides presented?

• Is information presented fairly?

BIAS• Some sources have a

BIASED point of view.

• Is one side presented exclusively or far more than the other?

• Is charged or emotional language used?

Is BIAS bad?

Weekly Reflection

• Evaluate what a simple Google search on your topic provides

• Practice using the CRAAP Test– Evaluate the 2 Web sources you found

last week

Activity/Practice• Practice using the CRAAP Test on

scholarly sources

• Evaluate– Scholarly Journal Article– eBook

Homework• Find a scholarly journal article on your

topic using Google Scholar– Cite it in MLA or APA– Evaluate it using CRAAP Test

MIDTERM EVALUATION• Keep | Start | Stop

• List ONE thing you would like your instructor to KEEP, START, and STOP doing.

• List ONE thing YOU would like to KEEP, START, and STOP doing in order to do well in this course.

References

Quaratiello, A. (2011). The college

student’s research companion:

Finding, evaluating, and citing the

resources you need to succeed (5th

ed.). New York, NY: Neal-Schuman.