Your Roadmap to Success: Section 3.1
{}
Learning Outcome: Describe what the CRAAP test is and how it is used
to evaluate information.
Why is this important?
How does this relate to your success in this course?
To review the course learning outcomes and their relevance to you, see
the Your Roadmap to Success feature at the beginning of this book. Best
of luck on your journey to success!
The explosive growth and use of the Internet in the 21st century has had
a profound effect on how people access, interpret, and use information. In
2014, almost 3 billion people used the Internet worldwide (International
Telecommunication Union, 2014). People turn to the Internet to help them
find information for everything from the location of restaurants to
instructions on starting their own business to possible reasons for that
curious rash on their big toe. In addition, of course, students turn to the
Internet to find resources for their academic papers (Head, 2013). The
International Reading Association states, “. . . networked communication
technologies such as the Internet provide the most powerful capabilities
for information and communication we have ever seen, permitting access
to people and information in ways and at speeds never before possible”
(2009).
Just as people are able to explore and discover overwhelming amounts of
data and information on the Internet, they are also able to create new
information quickly and easily by publishing their work on the Web. This
ease of publishing by anyone, while good for self-expression and the
sharing of ideas, has implications for the reliability of what can be found
on the Internet. When anyone can publish anything on the Internet, a great
deal of unreliable and subjective information is created.
Ashford Student Profile: Natasha
Natasha has just submitted her final paper for her Health & Wellness
Promotion class, and she’s feeling confident. She was able to find
several scholarly articles and e-books in the AU Library as well as
plenty of resources she found on the Internet to back up her claims about
the best approaches to teaching healthy nutrition habits to college
freshmen. When her graded paper came back, she was surprised to see
she had earned only a C, when she had felt so strongly that she was
surely getting an A. After further inspecting her paper, she saw that the
instructor had deducted points for the resources she found on the Internet
and the arguments she had based off those sources.
Natasha was confused; the instructor clearly stated that resources found
on the Internet were permitted for this assignment in addition to
scholarly material. Why was she docked points? When she read through
her instructor’s comments, she found comments such as “this teaching
method is not used by health promotion professionals because recent
research has shown it encourages disordered eating behavior in college
freshmen” and more comments such as “according to who?” or “please
back up with facts, not opinions.” When Natasha scrolled to the end of
her paper, she saw that the instructor had written a final comment saying
that if she was going to use resources from the Internet, she should make
sure she was using the most updated information from credible,
authoritative entities. For example, sources might include the American
College Health Association, the Centers for Disease Control, scholarly
articles from PubMed, or other open source scholarly resources. Instead,
Natasha had used information from websites such as nutrition blogs by
unknown, self-proclaimed “health experts,” promoting and selling diet
foods, and an article written by a registered dietitian in 1991. As a result,
the claims she made based on those sources were biased, outdated, and
probably inaccurate. Because Natasha had found so much information
on her topic on the Internet, it was difficult to know what to choose, so
she had gone with what came up on her first page of results, as so many
of us do.
By the same token, more and more entities (professional organizations,
academic journals, and government departments) that are considered
highly authoritative are publishing on the Web. How do you know
whether the information is sound? Many have claimed that new literacy
skills are needed to effectively navigate and use this new information
landscape. Being able to evaluate information found on the Web is
absolutely critical not only for your academic life, but also for your
workplace and personal life (International Reading Association, 2009;
Leu, et al., 2011).
The CRAAP test is a method that you can use to help evaluate information
from both print and digital sources while in search for the truth.
Developed by the Meriam Library at California State University in Chico,
the CRAAP test is a list of questions that you can use to evaluate a
source’s currency, reliability, authority, accuracy, and purpose (Figure
3.1). When used in conjunction with your critical thinking skills, the
CRAAP test can be an effective method for determining the validity of a
resource.
Figure 3.1 The CRAAP test
Currency: The timeliness of the information.
• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the information current or out-of date for your topic?
• Are the links functional?
Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs.
• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e., not too elementary or
advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of resources before determining this is one you
will use?
• Would you be comfortable using this resource for a research paper?
Authority: The source of the information.
• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
•
•
•
•
•
Are the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations given?
What are the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations?
What are the author’s qualifications to write on the topic?
Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?
Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source (e.g., .com, .edu,
.gov, .org, .net)?
Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the informational
content.
• 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 or from personal
knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?
Purpose: The reason the information exists.
• What is the purpose of the information? To inform? Teach? Sell? Entertain?
Persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact? Opinion? Propaganda? Does the point of view appear
objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal
biases?
Quick Tip!
Locating Stable Information
Information you locate on the Internet may not be stable. That is, it can
move or disappear without warning, making any links you use to cite
your information invalid. Information you find on websites owned by
the United States government, large business or nonprofit organizations,
or educational institutions is usually more stable and therefore less likely
to disappear. Additionally, these sites often archive their information, so
even if their information has been updated or moved, it may still be
accessible.
While the CRAAP test can be applied to evaluate both print and digital
resources, the remainder of this module focuses on exploring how you can
apply the CRAAP test to evaluate digital information you find on the
Internet outside the AU Library. Remember from Module 2 that the gold
standard for quality information is scholarly/peer-reviewed research,
some of which you can find on the Internet. Also keep in mind that
conducting good research means that the search for knowledge should not
be to reinforce what you already know, but to locate many perspectives in
search of the truth.
Before exploring the CRAAP test, let’s check back in with Irwin, as he
begins his quest for information online. When we left him, he had
collected a few scholarly articles from the AU Library on the topic of
social networking in the workplace, and was gathering information from
them through note taking. He decides to look over his assignment
instructions and starts checking off the resource requirements he has
fulfilled. Irwin’s assignment requires that he use his course textbook, two
scholarly sources, and one source of his choice in the development of his
paper. Irwin has already extracted the information he needs from his
textbook, and he has the scholarly articles he found in the AU Library.
The last resource he needs can be in the format of his choice. On his
KWHL chart, Irwin listed that he would like to try locating information
for his research paper from podcasts and websites about social networking
(see Table 3.1).
Table 3.1: Irwin’s updated KWHL chart
K
W
H
What do I know?
What do I want to know?
How do I find out?
Social networking has been How do others use social
Background research
around for at least 10 years. networking?
& Google
It’s useful for staying in
Has it been around for longer
Scholarly sources fro
touch with friends and
than 10 years?
library/FindIt@AU:
family.
Does it impact my life the
scholarly articles
It helps me keep up with
same way as it does others in
Internet sources: -we
groups and organizations
society?
podcasts
I’m interested in.
What are popular social
Some of the gaming systems networking tools?
I use have social networks
built in.
Has social networking evolved
with society?
What are popular social
networking tools in the
workplace?
How are companies using
social networks to enhance
their organizations?
Irwin knows that he needs to be careful when using the Internet to search
for resources for his paper. He has an idea of how to evaluate the
validity of a resource, but he would like to learn more. In the following
sections, we take a closer look at how the CRAAP test can help Irwin
locate solid resources for his paper.
Your Roadmap to Success: Section 3.2
{}
Learning Outcome: Identify the criteria used to evaluate the currency of
information.
Why is this important?
How does this relate to your success in this course?
To review the course learning outcomes and their relevance to you, see
the Your Roadmap to Success feature at the beginning of this book. Best
of luck on your journey to success!
The Internet can be an excellent place to find the most cutting-edge, upto-date information, as new content is constantly being published. This is
especially true for information on current events, such as news, stock
market activity, weather, and traffic conditions. The Internet is also an
excellent place to find archival and historical documents, rare books, or
other special collections that once were available only as print sources in
libraries. In short, you can find all kinds of information created or posted
at different times on the Internet, so how do you know if what you find is
current enough for your topic? Determining the currency of information
will depend on the subject you are researching.
Decide Between Older and Newer Sources
When setting out to find information on the Web or when evaluating
results from a search, you should determine whether it is necessary to get
the most up-to-date material based on your information need. For certain
subjects, such as history or the humanities, documents created hundreds
of years ago can be valuable to your research today. They include old
letters, legal documents such as birth and marriage certificates and court
and military records, and contemporary newspaper accounts of relevant
events.
In contrast, timeliness of the information is critical in fields in which new
knowledge is being built up rapidly, such as science and technology. If
you are trying to find the latest information on breast cancer treatment in
the United States, for instance, you wouldn’t want to use information from
a 2001 journal article or from a website that was last updated in 2005.
Treatments might have changed dramatically since then because the
healthcare field evolves so rapidly.
Depending on the purpose for which you’re seeking information, you may
need to use both older and current sources for the same project. For
instance, consider the field of anthropology, the study of human culture
of the past and present. You would use historical resources when you are
discussing human cultures of the past and current resources when you are
discussing contemporary cultures. Or you might refer to centuries-old
documents as samples of a culture’s written language, along with new
sources discussing computer analyses of those samples.
The following topics usually warrant using newer sources; the list also
includes topics for which currency of the information may not be as
important. The list is not exhaustive and is only meant to give you some
examples. There can be exceptions depending on your particular
information need.
Currency of information is usually important when researching
• current events and news.
• stock market activity.
• laws and regulations.
• research in the field of information and communication technologies
(ICTs).
• medical/health information.
• sciences.
• weather and traffic conditions.
• statistics (unless you are looking for historical statistics).
• reviews on products, restaurants, and so on.
• information about companies/organizations/institutions—news, data,
operations, personnel, practices, and so on.
Currency of information is usually not important when researching
• historical information.*
• topics within the humanities.*
• cooking, cleaning, gardening, and home repair.
• many hobbies such as painting, knitting, and working on old cars.
* Primary sources, such as census records and legal documents, can be valuable artifacts containing important data
relevant to your study even though they were created many years ago. However, researching historical information
and humanities topics can be tricky because new evidence is often discovered that changes the way historians view
events in the past. If you are researching historical events or topics within the humanities, make sure the
information comes from an authoritative source, something we discuss later in this module.
Check the Publication Date
Once you’ve determined that your topic does require up-to-date
information, you need to find out when the information you’re
considering using was published (or posted). To determine the publication
date of information you find in print, begin with the copyright date for
books, which is found on the copyright page at the beginning of the book,
or with the date of issue of a newspaper, journal, or magazine. Be aware,
though, that the information referred to within the publication might be
considerably older than the publication itself. For example, an article in a
nutrition journal might synthesize data from several research studies
conducted over the past decade. If you include that data, then you need to
cite the original sources of those studies.
One method to determine the currency of the information displayed on a
website is to look at the date the information was added to the site. Keep
in mind that a publication date on a website can mean a few different
things, such as
• when the material was first written, not the date it was posted to the
site.
• when the material was first posted to the site.
• when the material was last revised or updated. Updated and revised
information can mean something simple like an error in spelling
was corrected or some other minor change was made. It can also
mean that substantial updating to the information presented on the
site occurred.
When searching for the publication date, first identify the title of the
resource and then determine how much of it you plan to use. In the case
of a website, ask yourself: Am I using the entire website? Just one page
of the website? A specific article or post within a website? Determining
the specific information you are using from a resource will help you locate
when it was published and ensure you are citing the correct resource.
Sometimes, especially for news articles and blog posts, the publication
date is located near the title of the resource, so be sure to first look for the
publication date near the title or author’s name. Another place to look for
the publication date is at the bottom of the web page, at the end of an
article, often centered. Sometimes you will see only the copyright date for
the entire website, which is not the same thing as the publication date. The
copyright date usually has a small c in front of the date or simply says
copyright next to the date.
If the publication date was not provided, one possible strategy for finding
it involves reading the URL of the web page you’d like to use. The
website’s address, or Uniform Resource Locator (URL), can tell you a
lot about the information contained on that page. For instance, sites that
contain articles, blogs, or some form of published content may include a
date
in
the
URL.
For
example,
in
the
URL
http://www.homepage.org/2014/02/name-of-article, you can clearly see
the date the content was published is “2014” for the year and “02” for the
month of February. This is just one way to read a URL. We explore more
information on reading URLs and understanding the information they
contain later in the module.
Use Revisions or Updates
Often when you need to find out when a web page was last updated, you
can follow many of the same steps as you would to find the publication
date. Sometimes, websites list the date the page was last revised at the
bottom of the page. Often, you will see “Page last updated:” or “Page last
reviewed:” followed by the date.
One possible technique for locating the most recent modification date of
a website uses a short line of JavaScript code to pull this information from
the site. Some web browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox and Internet
Explorer, allow you to locate the publication date by requesting it in your
browser’s address bar. After navigating to a web page, try typing
javascript:alert(document.lastModified) into the address bar. This code
tells the browser you are requesting the most recent publication
information for that particular site.
Aside from checking the publication date and dates that a web page was
last revised or updated, you should pay attention to whether the links on
the web page are functional. Websites that stay current have authors and
editors who regularly check the functionality and content of the website.
Therefore, broken links can mean that no one is regularly maintaining the
site and that the information is outdated.
Additionally, it’s important to keep in mind that the format of the
information can dictate the currency of that information. A newspaper
article or a YouTube video can be created and uploaded incredibly quickly
compared to a book, which takes considerable time for the author to
research and write, and still more time to edit and print. Scholarly journal
articles also take time and are often subject to a rigorous peer review
process by experts in the academic field. Therefore, you can often guess
that certain information, such as data on motor vehicle accidents from an
annual government report, will probably be more current than data on
motor vehicle accidents from a book. In summary, the process by which
an informational work is created and made available to others (in print or
online) varies greatly and should be taken into account when you are
conducting research.
As Irwin reflects on the information he still needs for his paper, he decides
that he does need to search for current information since his research
question is technology focused. He makes a note of this on his research
plan and begins searching for information on the Internet. Since he is
using Google as his search engine, he already knows how to limit his
results to those published within the past year or how to customize his
dates if needed.
Your Roadmap to Success: Section 3.3
{}
Learning Outcome: Identify the criteria used to evaluate the relevance of
information.
Why is this important?
Being able to evaluate the relevance of information will help you stay
focused on your goals by eliminating unnecessary information. Consider
Cecilia, for example. Cecilia always assumed that, when it comes to
sources for your research paper, the more you have, the better your
paper will be. But after learning about the importance of relevant
information, she realized that quality is more important than quantity
when it comes to sources.
How does this relate to your success in this course?
This section’s learning outcome is associated with the following course
learning outcome: Evaluate information sources for authority, bias,
accuracy, and currency. Mastering this learning outcome will help you
identify threats and misleading or outdated information that could
jeopardize your schoolwork, as well as your personal life.
To review the course learning outcomes and their relevance to you, see
the Your Roadmap to Success feature at the beginning of this book. Best
of luck on your journey to success!
When evaluating sources, including sources found on the Internet, in the
library, or in print, be sure to consider whether the content meets your
needs. This is called determining an information source’s relevance. Does
the source relate to your topic? That is, does it help answer your question
or enhance your understanding? If not, then it is probably best to move on
to other sources. Keep in mind that a resource may not be an exact match
or completely answer your question, but it could describe a certain angle
of your topic that you may want to explore further. Therefore, it could still
have value for you. Deciding whether something is relevant to your
research is a bit of a judgment call, but the following strategies can help.
Frequently, you can determine the degree to which something is relevant
to your needs by considering the audience that the source was written or
created for, because the intended audience typically dictates the focus and
depth of the information. Content is generally created for different groups,
such as practitioners or professionals, scholars or researchers, the general
public, or maybe special-interest groups within the general public, such
as those who belong to certain political parties, religions, lifestyles, and
so on.
Let’s say you work for an exterminating company and you want to stay
abreast of new developments and latest techniques or products for pest
extermination. Since you are a professional in the field and already
possess a good deal of knowledge about the topic, it would probably not
be helpful to you to use sources written for the general public. Instead,
you would seek out information published by professional organizations
in the field, articles published in trade journals, or possibly peruse posts
on Internet message boards or forums created by those in the profession
for the purpose of sharing information.
One way to determine the intended audience for a source is to examine
the type of language used within it. Highly technical language usually
indicates that the intended audience is professionals in the field such as
technicians, physicians, or scientists. Information that seems too basic or
even elementary was probably written for the general public or for
students. For academic papers, “just right” sources are typically scholarly,
with more advanced language, and perhaps some vocabulary specific to
the field, but not a level of terminology that makes the source
incomprehensible to you.
Another way to determine whether or not a source is relevant for your
needs is to compare it with other sources of information on your topic. As
we discussed in Module 1, this is another reason conducting background
research is so important. It not only gives ideas for keywords, but can also
clue you in to possible angles to pursue about your specific topic so that
you’ll be able to identify those sources that are relevant.
You also should consider how the format of the information you chose
can affect the scope, depth, and manner in which your topic is discussed.
For instance, say you are looking up the topic of workplace violence in
the United States. Take a look at how these different formats may
influence what is covered about that topic:
• Books could give an in-depth as well as a broad account of workplace
violence in the United States, including the history, causes, and
impact. Books may also cover specific aspects of the topic in quite
a bit of detail.
• Newspaper articles could cover the latest developments of specific
incidences of violence in the workplace (for example, a recent
workplace shooting in XYZ town), commentary on the current state
of workplace violence in the United States, and other news
regarding current events of the topic.
• Scholarly articles focus on research conducted by scholars that
typically cover very specific aspects of the topic. For instance, a
scholarly article could explain organizational responses to
workplace aggression.
• Wikipedia or encyclopedia articles provide a general overview of the
topic, possibly including a definition of the term(s), categories of
violence, rate of incidence in the United States, and so on. Keep in
mind, though, that while Wikipedia can give you a good overview
on a topic, you should not use it as a source in your academic
assignments.
• YouTube videos range from actual coverage of an incident (such as
security camera footage), people’s commentary on the topic,
training videos meant for workplace violence prevention, and
much more.
• Government websites (such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
may cover U.S. statistics of fatal and nonfatal occurrences of
workplace violence or prevention programs.
Often, you may need to get information from various formats that are
addressed to different types of audiences to gather all of the relevant
information you need.
As Irwin begins his search for current, relevant information, he begins to
feel a bit discouraged. His initial search on social networking and the
workplace yielded him over 5 million results in Google. He even
remembered to use quotation marks around “social networking” like the
AU librarian showed him. After limiting the date range, he’s still
swimming in a number of results that do not look relevant to his topic. He
reminds himself that most likely he won’t find the one perfect article that
address all aspects of his topic, so he decides to see if the sites on his
results list discuss points relevant to his topic. He initially thought it would
be interesting to include a podcast or personal website for his last
resource; however, he notices that his results list includes quite a few
government websites and decides to explore those first.
Your Roadmap to Success: Section 3.4
{}
Learning Outcome: Identify the criteria used to evaluate the authority of
information.
Why is this important?
How does this relate to your success in this course?
To review the course learning outcomes and their relevance to you, see
the Your Roadmap to Success feature at the beginning of this book. Best
of luck on your journey to success!
Once you’ve determined that a source is relevant to your information
need, you need to consider who the author of the source is and his or her
authority level on the subject matter. In information literacy, authority is
a level of education and experience that qualifies an individual or group
to publish information on a given topic. For example, the United Nations’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a global authority on
climate change because its more than 2,000 members have advanced
education and extensive experience in climate science.
Let’s revisit the threshold concept authority is constructed and contextual.
In other words, no single checklist of criteria can tell you who is an
appropriate authority in every situation; instead, the level of authority
required depends on the information needed (ACRL, 2015). For example,
you wouldn’t need information from a leading researcher in meteorology
to help you decide whether to wear a jacket tomorrow, but you would need
information from someone with that level of authority if you were writing
a thesis on meteorological models. A Wikipedia article on Harry Potter
would be perfectly sufficient to help you keep track of which character is
which as you are reading the book. However, Wikipedia would not be
appropriate if you were writing a dissertation on Harry Potter’s place in
children’s literature; for that, you would need to consult scholars on the
topic. This is what is meant by authority is contextual—different contexts
require different levels of authority.
Similarly, the value placed on different types of authority often varies by
community. Members of one group might not consider a figure in a
different group as a reputable authority. For example, members of a
political party may view the writings of certain leaders or thinkers with
high regard, whereas people from outside that party may not recognize the
authority of those same leaders or thinkers. In another example, a noted
historian who is an expert on the Civil War would not carry the same
authority if he were to write an article about a modern health-related topic.
This is what is meant by the idea that authority is constructed—different
groups construct their own ideas about who or what is a valued source of
information for their purposes.
Ashford Student Profile: Gina
Gina was in trouble. She’d been researching the topic of her history
paper for over a week and was coming up empty handed. When she
initially selected the topic in her Book History class, she was excited!
Her professor listed the Dutch East Indies Trading Company (VOC) as a
possible topic and included three books published during that time that
she was to write about. The majority of her paper was to be written on
the history involved with the VOC, with supporting information on how
each of the three books fit into the history of that organization. She knew
this topic had the potential to be tough to research but felt she was up for
the challenge.
Gina easily located the information she needed on the VOC within the
AU Library. She initially began researching for information on the three
books by searching in digital libraries in Europe. Gina quickly realized
that these libraries shared similar information on each book and so was
able to glean only a few key pieces of information for her paper. She
then began searching the Internet using Google and was shocked to see
the websites that contained information on her three books were all
written in Dutch. She tried using Google Translate, but the information
on the pages was still difficult to understand. In spite of this, she was
able to pull a few more key pieces of information for her paper, but it
wasn’t enough.
As the deadline for Gina’s paper drew near, she began writing it with the
research she did have. While the information on the VOC was complete
and accurate, she still needed more information on the three books. Gina
was feeling desperate. She remembered that during her background
research she came across information on two of her three books on
Wikipedia. Gina knew she wasn’t supposed to use information from
Wikipedia on an academic paper, but she was curious if the site
contained information that she did not come across during her actual
research.
As Gina typed the name of her books into Wikipedia, she was surprised
and relieved to see information on two of her three book titles,
information on all three authors, and the publishers of each book listed
there. As she scanned and skimmed the information within the articles,
she noticed citations throughout each article, with links to the
information at the bottom. Gina gathered as much information as she
could from the sites referenced in the Wikipedia articles. Many of the
links were from .edu sites in other countries and historical preservation
sites. Gina scoured those websites and was able to discover the
information she needed to complete her paper. At the end of it all, she
was confused why these resources did not show up in her Google results.
The strategy Gina used to gather information from the citations listed in
the Wikipedia articles is called mining. Mining information from the
citations listed in Wikipedia articles can be very valuable, especially if
you are in a tight research bind. However, remember that you should
evaluate each site listed on a Wikipedia article using the CRAAP test
before using any of the information.
The reason Gina didn’t see these results in her Google searches is that
(1) the sites were from other countries and (2) the Internet filter bubble
could be excluding these sites from her results.
Identify the Publisher
The first step in evaluating the authority of a resource is to find out who
the publisher is. This information is easier to find for some resources than
for others. Books, magazines, and journals identify the publisher
prominently, usually on the cover as well as on the copyright page. Look
for reputable publishers in a given field; for example, scientific societies
or university presses for science texts and journals. Self-published
material, material that hasn’t been edited or reviewed by someone else,
needs careful evaluation. The number of self-published books is on the
rise and can look very sophisticated with current technology. Since the
author of the work is the person publishing it, pay close attention to the
author’s credentials to determine whether he or she can be considered an
authority on the topic.
Also evaluate the organization responsible for publishing information you
find on a website. Reputable organizations tend to be stable, so the
information on the website most likely will not undergo radical changes
in a short period of time. Government agencies and academic institutions
tend to be credible. Not-for-profit organizations are usually considered
more credible than commercial websites because making a profit or
selling a product does not motivate them. However, some not-for-profit
organizations exist to promote a specific agenda rather than to provide
objective information, so conduct some research into the nature of the
organizations whose information you’re considering using. Look for the
organization’s mission statement, which is often in an “About Us”
section. If you are not familiar with the organization, try searching for
more information about it online using a search engine.
Examining an Organization’s Authority
Pay attention to organizations with similar-sounding names; sometimes
a group will call itself something that sounds like an established,
reputable organization, but it may have a different purpose.
For example, the American College of Pediatricians and the American
Academy of Pediatrics sound like very similar organizations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP; www.aap.org) is a
professional organization for pediatricians that was founded in 1930; has
over 60,000 members; and is a leading source of clinical guidance,
policy recommendations, and education about children’s health.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACP; www.acpeds.org) is a
socially conservative group that consists of about 200 members. Some
public health experts believe that the ACP advances its members’
personal and religious agendas by distorting the research of others
(Collins, 2010).
As you can see, although their names are very similar, the authority of
these organizations varies greatly. As this example shows, it’s essential
to investigate the authority of the organizations publishing information
you plan to use. Not what the group stands for.
Identify the Author and the Author’s Credentials
Print sources typically list the author’s name prominently on the cover,
title page, or beginning of an article. On a website, the author’s name may
be harder to find. Look at the top or bottom of the page, or look for an
“About” or “Contact Us” section. Sometimes you might have to dig
around the site to find out who authored the information.
Once you identify an author, you will need to evaluate that author’s
expertise in the subject area. An author’s credentials are the
qualifications that make an author reputable in a specific field. When
evaluating an author’s credentials or qualifications, look for the following
items as possible indicators that the author can be considered an expert in
his or her field:
• Academic background and degrees: Degrees listed after an author’s
name, such as PhD or MD, show that the author has spent many
years formally studying in his or her field and is qualified to write
on a topic. It is a good idea to make sure that the author’s degree is
in a field that is related to the topic about which he or she is
writing. Academic degrees also often indicate that the author
conducts research in that area.
• Work or other experience: In some fields, like business, work
experience might be more important than the number of years a
person has spent formally studying a topic in school. Outside of
their work at a company, authors might have also served on
committees for professional groups, and university professors
might teach or conduct research in a certain area.
• Licensure or certification: In addition to academic degrees, look for
letters after the author’s name indicating a special license or
certification. This is more important in some fields than in others.
When you see additional credentials after an author’s name, it
shows that the author has spent considerable time developing his or
her skills and has passed some type of examination certifying that
he or she is proficient in a certain area. If you are not familiar with
a particular certification, try doing a search using the letters or the
full name of the credential to find out what the requirements are for
obtaining that credential. Often these licenses or certifications are
sponsored by a professional organization, and these organizations
often maintain a list or database of members who currently hold
that license.
• Affiliations: Look for the groups the author is affiliated with, such as
academic institutions, companies, government agencies, or
professional organizations. These affiliations might indicate where
the author works, or they might indicate the author’s membership
in a particular organization. As noted earlier, try to find out about
the reputation of any groups with which the author is associated.
Affiliation with a credible organization usually signifies the
credibility of the author, as the author serves as a representative of
the organization.
• Other publications: An author who has written many publications on a
topic has probably spent considerable time studying that topic and
thus might be considered an expert. This is especially true if the
other sources (other websites, journals, or book publishers) where
the author has been published are reputable sources. Additionally,
scholars often cite other well-respected scholars in their field, so if
an author’s publications have been cited by many other sources, he
or she is probably an authority in that area.
Contact the Publisher or Author
When determining the authority of a source, you should look for contact
information on websites, including addresses, phone numbers, and email
addresses. You can often find them in an “About Us” section. If you have
questions that aren’t answered either on the resource itself or through
additional searching, try contacting the source presenting the information.
A reputable source should provide contact information; this can indicate
transparency and a willingness to engage with readers. Be cautious about
sources that provide no contact information or that provide only an email
address. Anyone can create an email address. If this is the only contact
information you can find, it’s a good idea to send an email asking for more
information. For instance, say you found an article on a website called
Life Skills for Learning that you were hoping to use in a research paper
for class. The website does not list who wrote the article, but it does have
contact information for the website itself. In this case, contacting the
source could be beneficial. Try emailing the website to see whether
someone can provide the contact information you are looking for. If the
site did not provide contact information, this is a sign you should consider
using a different source.
Read the URLs
At times, you can gather quite a bit of information about a web page by
looking closely at the URL. Earlier we explained how to use the URL to
determine the date information was posted online. Reading the URL can
also tell you the author, publisher, and who is sponsoring the information
presented. Each of these items will help you decide on the authority of a
source. Take a look at the following sample URL to understand the
different parts of it:
http://www.sampleurl.com/folder/file.html
1 http: This part of the URL stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This
is the language or set of rules that computers use to communicate
with each other when transmitting information.
2 www: This part of the URL stands for World Wide Web. Browsers
usually add this on, even if you do not type it into the address bar.
It usually is not necessary to enter anymore.
3 sampleurl: This is the domain name, which is the unique address for
the web resource, or the server on which it exists. This address
must be unique in order for a browser to know how to get to it, just
like a physical mailing address. Often this is the name of the
organization that is responsible for the website.
4 .com: This is called a top-level domain. A limited number of top-level
domains are available, and they can tell you a lot about what type
of website it is. Top-level domains (TLDs) are regulated by the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Some TLD names are restricted to specific types of organizations
that meet certain criteria, and some are open to be used by anyone.
While the number of TLDs continues to grow, several of the most
common will probably be familiar to you. Check out Table 3.2 for
information on the most common TLDs.
5 /folder/file: This path takes you to the specific page that you see. Just
as you organize your files on your desktop into folders, the
individual pages on a website reside in folders, and this part of the
URL shows the location of those folders and files on the server
where the website exists.
6 .html: This is the file extension. It shows what type of file the page is.
In this example, html means it’s a web page. Other file extensions
you may see are .pdf, which you can open with a PDF viewer like
Adobe Reader, .docx for a Microsoft Word document file, or .xlsx
for a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Knowing the file type is not
critical to evaluating the quality of the information.
Table 3.2: Common top-level domains
TopWebsite Type
Notes
Level
Domain
.com
Usually indicates These websites are often sponsored by a company and
a commercial
they cannot be credible. Many .com websites contain
website
restrictions on who can register a domain name with t
quality of these web sites. Check out http://archive.ica
.org
Usually indicates Many of these websites are credible, especially those
a not-for-profit
the American Cancer Society. As with .com websites,
organization
you will find variations in the quality of information. C
be promoting a certain viewpoint or agenda.
.net
Originally
These websites are now unrestricted, meaning anyone
intended for
organizations like
Internet service
providers
.edu
Indicates an
Information found on these sites may not be automatic
educational
validity of the information.
institution
.gov
Indicates a
These are generally considered credible.
government
agency
After Irwin found some great statistical information for his research paper
from the different government websites he looked at, he turns his attention
to locating relevant information from personal sites. As he begins
searching, Irwin becomes concerned that a personal website may not be
the best choice for his paper. He attempts to explore the authors’
credentials but finds it tricky to determine whether they are qualified to
write on the topic of social networking in the workplace. He eventually
locates three potential sites that he’s considering for his research paper.
The information on each of these sites is current, meaning it has been
posted within the past year, and each author has posted his or her
credentials to write on the topic of social networking. The first author
claims to be the founder and CEO of a social media company, but the link
to the author’s company site is inactive and doesn’t work. This requires
more digging for authority on Irwin’s part. A lawyer wrote Irwin’s second
website option, and a social media manager for a large company wrote
Irwin’s third website pick. After learning about the importance of
authority Irwin is feeling uncertain now about the idea of using these
websites in his paper. He’s also concerned with how to determine whether
the information on each website is accurate.
Your Roadmap to Success: Section 3.5
{}
Learning Outcome: Identify the criteria used to evaluate the accuracy of
information.
Why is this important?
How does this relate to your success in this course?
To review the course learning outcomes and their relevance to you, see
the Your Roadmap to Success feature at the beginning of this book. Best
of luck on your journey to success!
Accuracy refers to the precision, correctness, truthfulness, and
reliability of the information. To evaluate the accuracy of a source, you
will need to consider the content of the information itself.
{}
Consider the Author and Format
In the previous section, you learned how to assess the authority of
information by identifying the author and the author’s credentials. The
same author information is also likely to tell you how accurate the
information is. Information created by an authority in a certain field will
probably be highly accurate; an expert author is invested in producing
reliable information, as his or her reputation or career depends on it.
The format in which the information is presented can also affect its
accuracy. With the widespread use of the Internet and the growth of social
media, information can be published and disseminated online almost
instantaneously. Sources like tweets, blog posts, and online news articles
are sometimes published about an event even as that event is unfolding.
As a result, complete details about the event may not be known or
available at the time of publication, so the information may not be entirely
accurate. In contrast, because of their lengthy -publication process, print
formats such as books or scholarly journals typically contain fewer
inaccuracies. When evaluating accuracy, therefore, make sure you think
critically about the format of the information and the process that went
into publishing and disseminating that information.
Quick Tip!
Gathering Information
Keep the following points in mind when gathering information online:
• Anyone can publish anything he or she wants on the Internet and also
in print (think of junk mail, flyers, and so on). Remember to
approach potential resources with caution and do your due
diligence!
• Just like information in print, information on the Internet has not
necessarily been edited or checked for accuracy.
• No standards exist to ensure the accuracy of information found online.
However, newspapers, magazines, scholarly articles, and books
(not self-published ones) usually do go through some type of factchecking process.
• Most importantly, always use your critical thinking skills when
evaluating resources, whether for academic, workplace, or personal
use.
Evaluate the Evidence
Reliable information should be based on facts or other evidence that can
be verified. Arguments and claims should flow logically from the
evidence that the author uses. This evidence should be clearly, fully, and
prominently cited so that readers can find the cited sources and verify that
they support the claims made. Whenever possible, the information should
refer to the original or primary source. For example, if you were reading
an article that used statistics from a government report, you would expect
to see a reference to that government report, not to another article that
used the same statistics. Additionally, look at the quality of the sources
the author cites. Check to see if the evidence comes from other wellrespected and reliable sources. If a website provides links to other sites
where the data comes from, check the links to make sure they work and
that they point to other credible sites. If you are unsure of the facts or
evidence used, you may even need to try contacting the author to verify
or answer any questions. Be suspicious of any information that does not
tell you the source of the evidence it uses.
Use Other Sources to Prove Reliability
Accurate and reliable information can usually be verified; that is, other
sources will present the same or similar information. For example,
information about the harmful effects of smoking can be found on
smokefree.gov, the smoking-cessation website of the National Cancer
Institute. There, you’ll find statistics similar to those you’ll find on many
other reputable sites, from the American Cancer Society to the U.S.
Surgeon General. Compare the data cited on any web page you’re
considering using with similar data from other trusted sources to verify
accuracy.
If a website or other information source presents data or concepts that
cannot be corroborated by another source, you will need to be especially
thorough in evaluating it. In fields that change rapidly and in which
research frequently leads to new discoveries, new information that goes
against generally accepted knowledge is not necessarily bad. If the
findings of one study present new information that has not yet been
published in previous studies, months or years may go by before more
information becomes available to support the results of that study. In other
words, one study alone is never enough to make a case. It does, however,
require critical evaluation on your part before being accepted.
Identify Bias
Bias is an inclination toward or against a particular perspective, group,
or idea. All people are biased by their education and personal
experiences; thus, it isn’t possible to write from a completely neutral
point of view. Therefore, it is likely that most information contains some
bias, and some information is more biased than others. For example, a
claim that violent crime is decreasing in the United States, and backed
by data from the FBI, is likely to be far less biased than a claim that
America is more violent than it was half a century ago, backed by three
or four personal anecdotes. Think of bias as a spectrum rather than a
characteristic that is either present or not.
As you’re conducting research, be aware that most people find an author’s
bias especially difficult to detect when it aligns with their own. Bias is not
necessarily bad. As long as you recognize that it’s always present, and
you look for information that represents a different perspective, you’ll
increase your chances of exploring all sides of an issue and drawing less
prejudiced conclusions.
Although information in any format can and will be biased, information
you find on obscure Internet sites is especially prone to personal bias. We
explained earlier that anyone can publish to the Web without any
regulation, so people can post information promoting their own personal
agenda, declaring their viewpoint, or selling their product or service.
People may even deliberately post misinformation that is intended to
obscure the truth.
When you are trying to determine bias, look for things such as
7 emotional, strong, or inflammatory language.
8 claims that are not supported by evidence.
9 distorted facts or facts presented out of context.
10 information used to sell products.
11 whether the opposing point of view is either underrepresented or
nonexistent.
12 evidence that contradicts the viewpoint is ignored.
13 personal attacks.
14 claims of certainty or absolutes.
15 the relationship between content and advertisements (does the
content seem to be related to or promoting the products that are
advertised on the site?).
Quick Tip!
Inflammatory Language
Inflammatory language is negative in nature and consists of a selection
of words a writer uses to stir up emotions such as passion, anger, or
hostility from the reader. The intent in using such language is generally
to get an emotional reaction from the reader. Be wary of including
sources that use this type of language to convey their message. There are
most likely better, more neutral-toned sources that will effectively
address your information need.
Bias can also influence the purpose and objectivity of information. Let’s
look at a few examples:
• Political bias: Information with a political bias is intended to persuade
readers to vote for a certain candidate or support the ideas of a
political party.
• Ideological bias: Ideology refers to the system of beliefs, or the
worldview, of an individual or a group of people. Individuals and
organizations may publish in order to promote an ideology—
explicitly or subtly. For example, the ideological views of a news
organization can affect the stories it chooses to produce and the
side of a story it tends to favor. An author also might write to
promote the beliefs of a particular religion.
• Personal bias: As noted earlier, individuals are influenced by a variety
of personal factors that lead to bias in the information they
disseminate.
Assess the Quality of the Presentation
Look at the overall quality of the information. It should be free from errors
in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Information should also be
presented in an organized and logical way, with clear structure that is
broken down into logical sections. Look for headings that clearly identify
the main idea of the narrative beneath them. When appropriate, a highquality presentation will include graphs, charts, or data tables to help the
reader understand the text. These graphics and tables should be accurately
labeled, easy to understand, and clearly relevant to the text.
Irwin begins to look closer at the content of each of the three websites,
looking specifically for bias and citations to support the information being
presented. He can clearly see that none of the websites include citations
that reference where the information comes from, so he rereads each
website post to see whether he can uncover any bias. Now that he is
looking for it, in the first website written by the CEO and founder of a
social media company, he can clearly see the information seems to
promote the company, as language used in the website is very boastful.
This leads Irwin to consider the purpose behind the information shared in
each site.
Your Roadmap to Success: Section 3.6
{}
Learning Outcome: Identify the purpose behind the creation of
information.
Why is this important?
How does this relate to your success in this course?
To review the course learning outcomes and their relevance to you, see
the Your Roadmap to Success feature at the beginning of this book. Best
of luck on your journey to success!
The final task of evaluating information is understanding why that
information was created—that is, the purpose it serves. The goal might
be to inform, instruct, persuade, entertain, sell a product, or even damage
another person or cause. Some authors present only one side of an issue,
whereas some present all sides. Think about why this might be, and what
purpose the author had for presenting the information in a certain way.
For example, does the author have anything to gain personally from the
information he or she is presenting? Who is the intended audience? Is the
author trying to sell a product or service to potential customers, recruit
new members to a group, or influence voters’ opinions in an election?
If the information is sponsored by an organization, you will need to find
out the mission of the organization. Even if a particular web page was
written by an individual author, the mission of the group sponsoring the
website on which that page is located is still relevant to the information’s
credibility, as there is probably a reason the information was posted on
that particular site. Look for the “About Us” tab on the website or the
“Mission Statement.” If the mission of the organization is not obvious
from the website itself, try using a search engine to find more information
about it.
Information can be fact, opinion, or propaganda:
• Fact is information based on evidence that can be verified in other
sources or through observation.
• Opinion is a judgment or subjective statement that may or may not be
based on facts, but cannot be verified without bias or prejudice.
• Propaganda refers to information that is specifically intended to
influence people’s attitudes and emotions by promoting a certain
agenda. It usually presents facts selectively or even twists facts to
communicate a desired message. Propaganda often uses
inflammatory language intended to manipulate its audience’s
emotions.
When determining whether information is fact, opinion, or propaganda,
look to see if the language appeals to emotion or is objective and impartial.
Can other evidence confirm the information, or does it seem as if
important facts are missing? If so, how might this indicate the point of
view of the author? For example, if a website presents the benefits of using
a botanical remedy to cure multiple diseases, but does not present the
molecular chemistry behind the claimed therapeutic effects or
acknowledge any side effects or adverse effects, then the author is
probably not presenting the information objectively and impartially, and
his or her purpose is quite likely to sell the product.
Table 3.3 contrasts scholarship and propaganda. When seeking out good
research, look for scholarship that contains the following examples.
Consider following the examples of scholarship when presenting your
own research.
Table 3.3: Scholarship versus propaganda
Characteristics of Scholarship
Describes the limits of data
Presents accurate description of alternate views
Presents data that do not favor preferred views as well as data that supports
these views
Settles disputes by use of generally accepted criteria for evaluating data
Looks for counterexamples
Uses language in agreed-upon ways
Updates information
Admits own ignorance
Finds own field/area of investigation difficult and full of holes
Attempts to discuss general laws/principles
Relies on critical thinking skills
Source: Presnell, J. L. (2013). The information-literate historian: A guide to research for history
students (p. 110). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
In summary, think critically about the purpose each resource serves in
answering your need for information. If it exists to persuade or sell, for
example, it might not be appropriate for your needs.
Irwin applies his critical thinking skills to the content presented in each of
the three websites he selected. He initially thought that selecting websites
written by people outside the general public, with published credentials,
would help ensure the content was valid and reliable. However, after
considering the purpose for each post on the website, he decides to rule
out all three. He determines that the first website is propaganda meant to
present the CEO’s company in the best light possible, which would not
constitute a quality resource for his paper. The lawyer’s website presents
quite a bit of factual information on social media and the law except many
posts end with a summary of how the lawyer’s firm can help you if you
are in trouble. Irwin rules out this source not only because the content isn’t
relevant for his paper, but also because the website seems more like a
commercial for the lawyer’s services. The last website written by the
social media manager shares information about how social networking
has enhanced the productivity of companies through global partnerships.
Cha
Use
Mak
Use
Dis
view
Sup
App
Rel
innu
Tra
Mag
Pres
Dev
The content definitely is on target for Irwin’s research paper; however,
the information also promotes a series of workshops and webinars. At this
point, Irwin decides to stick with the government website he found earlier,
which means he will meet the minimum resource requirements for his
paper. Since he’s still curious about using a podcast in his paper, he
decides to see if can find one that meets his research needs.
Your Roadmap to Success: Section 3.7
{}
Learning Outcome: Identify the criteria used to evaluate multimedia
found on the Web.
Why is this important?
How does this relate to your success in this course?
To review the course learning outcomes and their relevance to you, see
the Your Roadmap to Success feature at the beginning of this book. Best
of luck on your journey to success!
Throughout this module, the focus has been on using the CRAAP test to
evaluate print and text-based web resources. But you also need to know
how to effectively evaluate multimedia resources. As a reminder,
multimedia consists of information in digital formats such as audio, video,
podcasts, images, and graphics. With a little modification, the CRAAP
test can successfully be applied to multimedia resources. However, to use
the CRAAP test in this manner, you need to consider each type of
multimedia individually. For instance, you would not apply the exact
same criteria to the evaluation of a podcast as you would to an image.
While the authority of the source producing the podcast and image may
be equally important, the currency of the podcast could be of greater
concern than the currency of the image. Additionally, you should include
multimedia only if it fits within the context of your information need, and
it enhances your or your audience’s understanding of the topic.
You will need to use your critical and creative thinking skills when
evaluating a multimedia source using the CRAAP test. Use the questions
in Table 3.4 to evaluate multimedia. Keep in mind that some questions
will not apply depending on the type of multimedia required.
Table 3.4: How to apply the CRAAP test to evaluate multimedia
Category
Questions
Currency
• When was the material produced?
• Is the content still current?
• Has it been revised or updated?
• Is it the most recent revision or version?
• Can I find any indications that the content is no longer relevant?
Relevancy
16 Is the multimedia relevant to my information need or audience?
17 Does it relate to my topic?
18 Does it help me answer a question or solve a problem?
19 Could it help to support my central argument?
20 Does it provide evidence or support my ideas?
21 Does it enhance my work?
Authority
• Who produced or sponsored the material?
• What is the purpose of the sponsoring organization?
• Is the organization recognized in the field?
• Is it clear who produced the material and what the author’s qualific
• Does it include an address to contact for more information?
• If the material is protected by copyright, is licensing information gi
holder?
Accuracy
• If the material presents facts, are those cited and referenced?
• If data is presented in graph or chart form, is it legible and clearly l
• Does the sound or image quality of the material allow for an accura
presented?
Purpose/Bias • Does the point of view presented appear to be objective and impart
• Does it acknowledge other perspectives or conflicting information?
• If there is any advertising within the material, is it clearly separate f
• Are the authors’ biases (if any) clearly stated? Watch out for opinio
advertisements.
• Beware of political, religious, ideological, cultural, institutional, or
• Is it meant to inform, teach, entertain, or persuade?
• Is it trying to sell a product, an idea, or a way of thinking?
• Does the material present facts, opinion, or propaganda?
Source: Adapted from the Meriam Library at California State University, Chico:
http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf
When searching out various types of multimedia, you need to consider
what is and is not covered under copyright law. When you’re selecting
multimedia to cite in an academic paper, most of what you find will be
covered under academic fair use. However, if you are seeking out
multimedia to use for a work or personal need, you will want to pay closer
attention to the rules of copyright and possibly search out resources found
in the public domain. More information on the topic of copyright and fair
use can be found in Module 5.
Success! Irwin located a podcast on the topic of social networking and the
workplace that was not only recently published, but also hosted by a
globally reputable newspaper. The podcast is part of a series of
technology-focused interviews with gurus in the field. The podcast Irwin
found is hosted by the social media correspondent for the New York Times
and interviews a professor at Cornell University who is a leading expert
in the field of social media. The content of the podcast is relevant to
Irwin’s paper and also fills in a gap he had in his research. Irwin’s
completed KWHL chart is shown in Table 3.5.
Table 3.5: Irwin’s completed KWHL chart
K
W
H
What do I know?
What do I want to know?
How do I find out?
Social networking has
How do others use social
Background research:
been around for at least 10 networking?
Wikipedia & Google
years.
Has it been around for longer Scholarly sources from
It’s useful for staying in
than 10 years?
Library/ -FindIt@AU: 1
touch with friends and
Does it impact my life the
book, 3 scholarly article
family.
same way as it does others in Internet sources: govern
It helps me keep up with
society?
site, podcast
groups and organizations
I’m interested in.
Some of the gaming
systems I use have social
networks built in.
What are popular social
networking tools?
Has social networking
evolved with society?
What are popular social
networking tools in the
workplace?
How are companies using
social networks to enhance
their organizations?
In Module 4, we will follow Irwin through the process of organizing his
information for presentation in his research paper.
Purchase answer to see full
attachment