Evaluate Sources

Once you've skimmed and chosen articles, you need to evaluate whether the sources are reliable/accurate enough to use for a research project. It can be tempting to use any source in your paper that seems to answer your research question, but remember that not all information is good information, especially in an online environment.

The CRAAP Test is a handy checklist to use when evaluating a web resource (or ANY resource). The test provides a list of questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not a source is reliable and credible enough to use in your academic research paper. CRAAP stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. For more information, please see below. (Source: Central Michigan University Libraries; CRAAP Test developed by Meriam Library, California State University-Chico)