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Want to test your ability to evaluate sources? Take the quiz! Do not fill out form at end of quiz - this is simply a review for you to do to test your own knowledge.
How do you know if you have found “good” information? The CRAAP Test is a list of questions that you can use to evaluate the information that you find.
Currency: the timeliness of the information
Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs
Authority: the source of the information
Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content
Purpose: the reason the information exists
Quiz time! Who do you think would be best at discovering whether or not something from the internet is credible?
In a 2017 study about evaluating online information, two researchers sought to answer this question. They found that while most college students grew up using the internet and faculty members were experts in their fields, professional fact checkers were able to analyze the credibility of an online resource with greater accuracy and more speed. That is because, unlike the students and professors, they utilized lateral reading.
Lateral reading: Instead of staying with one website or article, you might need to jump around a bit. Open multiple tabs in your browser to follow links found within the source and do supplemental searches on names, organizations or topics you find. These additional perspectives will help you to evaluate the original article and can end up saving you time.
Things to remember:
Reference:
Wineburg, Sam and McGrew, Sarah. Lateral Reading: Reading Less and Learning More When Evaluating Digital Information (October 6, 2017). Stanford History Education Group Working Paper No. 2017-A1. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3048994