Evaluating information is a critical part of the research process and is a valuable skill that will help you in everyday use of information.
Developing this skill now will help you long after you have graduated. Many criteria can be used to evaluate information, and we will focus on three: |
Authority
Who is responsible for writing the material? What are their credentials?
Relevance
How does this information relate to my topic? Will it help me to make a point?
Timeliness
Was the information researched and written at a time apporpriate to your topic?
The CRAAP Test is a common checklist used to evaluate an informaiton resource.
Currency: The timeliness of the web page.
Relevance: The uniqueness of the content and its importance for your needs.
Authority: The source of the web page.
Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the informational content.
Purpose: The presence of bias or prejudice/The reason the web site exists.
The CRAAP Test was created by Meriam Library at California State University, Chico.
If the articles you find do not cite sources or if you want to verify information, try some of these fact checking websites:
Whois - A tool to check if a domain name is in use or available for sale, registrant of a site and some background information of the domain.
Quackwatch - Health information
Snopes - References for urban legends, myths, and hoaxes.
West Hempstead Public Library - Fact checking of political information.
Politifact - An independent fact-checking journalism website aimed at bringing you the truth in politics.
Emergent - A real-time rumor tracker aims to develop best practices for debunking misinformation.
Alexa.com - A website tracker that tracks a site's background, audience, and traffic statistics.