Skip to main content

Evaluating Resources – do you use the CRAAP test? (#23)

Once you have found some information resources you need to check whether they are going to help answer your question. The CRAAP test is a tool to help you to remember what to check for when you are deciding whether to use the information source that you have found. It covers the basics that you need to think about.

Summary of the CRAAP checklist - currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy and purpose
Summary of the CRAAP checklist - currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy and purpose
When you use the CRAAP test you should check the resource you are evaluating for:

  • Currency – is the resource you are looking at recent? Does it contain up-to-date information?
  • Relevancy – is the information relevant to your question. Don’t waste your time looking at irrelevant information
  • Authority – can you tell who has written the information? Who is the publisher or author? Are they qualified on this topic?
  • Accuracy – is the information accurate? Does the argument flow logically? Are there references that you can validate?
  • Purpose – what is the key purpose of the resource? Is it to educate, promote research or to sell you something or collect your data?

If an information resource fails the CRAAP test it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is... well… umm... you know, not very good, just that it is not suitable for your purpose. You don’t want to waste time searching around resources that are not going to help you to answer your question.

You can learn more about the CRAAP text by completing our short etutorial Evaluating Information.

Here is an even shorter video summary:





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hot topic! Hantavirus

 With the cruise ship in port and the travellers heading home the Hantavirus outbreak has been in the news recently. Learn more about this disease from library resources. Check these resources for an overview, key points, diagnosis, treatment options, follow-up and more. [You will need your NHS OpenAthens username to access these resources] BMJ Best Practice – Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome Oxford Medicine Online – Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome in Clinical Infectious Disease (3 rd ed) Selected articles from our journal collection Critical care management of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome. A narrative review , Journal of Critical Care , Ulloa-Morrison, Rodrigo; Pavez, Nicolas; Parra, Esteban; Lopez, Rene; Mondaca, Roberto; Fernandez, Paula; Kraunik, David; Sanhueza, Claudia; Bravo, Sebastian; Cornu, Matias Germán; Kattan, Eduardo, Vol. 84, p. 154867, 2024. Hantavirus in humans: a review of clinical aspects and management , The Lancet Infectious Dis...

Hot Topic! Ebola

 News about the ebola virus continues, including this article from the BBC about healthcare workers Ebola outbreak: How health workers are treating patients and staying safe in DR Congo - BBC News Check these resources for an overview, key points, diagnosis, treatment options, follow-up and more. [You will need your NHS OpenAthens username to access these resources] BMJ Best Practice – Ebola disease Clinical Key (available to UHNM only) – Ebola Virus Disease Cochrane Library systematic reviews – Interventions to support the resilience and mental health of frontline health and social care professionals during and after a disease outbreak, epidemic or pandemic: a mixed methods systematic review (2020) Oxford Medicine Online – Chapter Emerging infectious diseases in Oxford textbook of health protection: principles and practice (2026) Patient Information Ebola [BMJ BP] Ebola virus infection: what to know [Clinical Key] Selected articles from our journal collection Combining v...

Article integrity checks for NHS staff

Want to have extra quality and integrity checks for the articles you find? Use library NHS resources and get warnings if the article you're reading fails integrity checks. NHS resources use LibKey to easily point you to subscribed resources. Now LibKey also does a number of integrity checks to help you feel confident with the articles you find. You’ll get warnings about: Retracted articles Retracted article citation (where an article includes references to articles which have been retracted) Expression of concern for the article (where publishers have concerns about some aspect of a published article) Problematic publishers information Warnings are presented at point of access whether from article links in databases or on the web via LibKey Nomad. Make sure you use library resources so that you are using LibKey links and integrity checks. For more help please contact the eresources librarian c.kent@keele.ac.uk