Evaluating information is especially important when completing academic research assignments in college because you will be evaluated on the quality of sources you use. The CRAP Test is a helpful tool to use when deciding if a source is high-quality and credible. CRAP stands for currency, reliability, authority and purpose. These are the four areas you'll consider when evaluating a source.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you go through the evaluation process.
Currency
Reliability
Authority
Purpose/Point of View
There are many ways to evaluate information sources. Some of our other favorites are listed below.
Great question! A good source is credible and relevant to your topic.
CCC Library provides many resources to help with finding "good" sources. Resources available through our library catalog & databases are generally "safer" than random internet searching. Starting your research in the catalog will help you find books, eBooks, and articles from newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals. If you’re just getting started, try Gale Virtual Reference Library / Gale eBooks – the academic version of Wikipedia! Once you find an article you like, check its references for more, then use the CCC Library Catalog to search for the citation.
CCC Librarians are here to help you with this exact question, too. Stop by, call us, email us, or chat with us online. We're happy to help!
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