Inquiry Resources
Are you looking for credible, educational sites to complete research? Sources to help with citations? Common Sense Education has a comprehensive list of sources for your research.
Source Evaluation
How do you know if your sources are credible? Are they up to date? Will they contain accurate or outdated information? How do my students know? TRAAP is an acronym to help you evaluate the sources you use in your research. To learn more about TRAAP, watch this video.
Follow this link for a student activity on source evaluation.
TRAAP
T - Timeliness
Is it up to date or current? Does the age of the information matter for your research topic?
R - Relevance
Does the information match your topic? Yes? Use the source. Maybe? Keep it to see if you need it later. No? Do not use it.
A-Authority
Determine if the author is an expert. For books, magazines, or newspapers that you find in a library or in a database, an editor or librarian has already checked for authority. Since anyone can publish information on the Internet, it is especially important to check for authority on websites.
A - Accuracy
Is the information reliable and correct? For books, magazines, or newspapers that you find in a library or in a database, an editor or librarian has already checked for accuracy. Since anyone can publish information on the Internet, it is especially important to check for accuracy on websites.
P - Purpose
Determine why the information was created. Is the author trying to persuade? Sell? Entertain? Inform? If the author is trying to persuade, take note of that, and you may want to find an opposing viewpoint.
References:
AEA Digital Resources. Iowa Area Education Agencies. (n.d.). http://www.iowaaea.org/how-we-can-help/iowa-aea-online/.
Evaluating & Choosing Sources. (2018, August 3). YouTube. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://youtu.be/bf8sLojHmlM
Oregon School Library Information System. (n.d.). Evaluating & Choosing Sources video — Elementary. OSLIS for Elementary Students. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://elementary.oslis.org/learn-to-research/find/choose-my-sources/evaluating-choosing-sources-video
Oregon School Library Information System. (2018, August 3). Evaluating & Choosing Sources. YouTube. Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://youtu.be/bf8sLojHmlM