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

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: