Evaluating Resources

Information sources can include books, scholarly articles, newspaper articles, and websites, just to name a few.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to determine whether a source is credible.

Evaluating resources

One method you can use to evaluate sources is the CRAAP test. Developed by librarians at California State University, the CRAAP test can be used to evaluate many sources of information, including websites or articles in our databases. 

To view the criteria for the CRAAP test, click anywhere in this sentence. 

Currency

To determine the currency of a source, consider these questions:

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

 Click on this page and determine the currency of it. 

Where to look to determine currency

 Look for the date the article was published

or when the website was last updated.

Relevance

To determine if the information is relevant to your needs, consider these questions: 

• Does this resource relate to your topic? 
• Who is the intended audience? 
• Is it at an appropriate level? 
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is the best source? 

Authority

When trying to determine the authority of an author, consider these questions: 

• Who is the author/publisher/source?
• Is the author qualified to write on the topic?
• What are the author's credentials? 
• Is there contact information for the author or publisher? 
• Does the URL give any clues about the author or source? .com .edu .gov .org 

Authority

.com = US commercial website

.edu = US educational website affiliated with a university 

.gov = US government website

.org = Organization or non-profit site 

Keep in mind the intent of the website. Is it trying to teach, persuade, or sell you something? 

Authority

To determine the authority of an author, click on the author's name or look for their information at the bottom of the article. There you can find background information on the author as well as other articles the author has written.

Sometimes you may need to look up additional information about the author or website to determine its credibility. It can be tricky sometimes. 

Accuracy

To determine the accuracy of a source, consider these questions:

• 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? 
• Does the language seem unbiased or free of emotion? 
• Are there spelling or grammatical errors? 

Purpose

To determine the purpose of the information, consider these questions: 

• What's the purpose of the information? 
• Do the authors make their intention clear? 
• Is the information fact, opinion, propaganda, or humor? 
• Does the point of view seem objective or impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases? 

Applying the CRAAP test

Click on this link and evaluate a website using the CRAAP test.

Things to think about:

• When was the article published? 
• Is the author qualified to write on this topic? 
• What is the purpose of the article?
• What is the intention of the website? 
• Is the information accurate? Can you verify it with another source?