Ask yourself the following questions when considering websites and and other sources you find on the web (Google) for your research:
Currency
- How recent is the information?
- Can you locate a date when the page(s) were written/created/updated?
- Does the website appear to update automatically (this could mean no one is actually looking at it)?
- Based in your topic, is it current enough?
Reliability
- What kind of information is included in the website?
- Is it a primary or secondary source?
- Based on your other research, is it accurate? …complete?
- Is the content primarily fact, or opinion?
- Is the information balanced, or biased?
- Does the author provide references for quotations and data?
- If there are links, do they work?
Authority
- Can you determine who the author/creator is?
- Is there a way to contact them?
- What are their credentials
- education, affiliation, experience, etc.?
- Was it a single person or several people?
- Was it a corporation or organization?
- Is there evidence they’re experts on the subject?
- Who is the publisher or sponsor of the site?
- Is this publisher/sponsor reputable?
Purpose / Point of View
- What’s the intent of the website
- to persuade?
- to sell you something?
- What was the intent of the author, and how is the author connected to the information?
- What is the domain (.edu, .org, .com, etc.)? How might that influence the purpose/point of view?
- Are there ads on the website? How do they relate to the topic being covered?
- Is the author presenting fact, or opinion?
- Who might benefit from a reader believing this website?
- Based on the writing style, who is the intended audience?
- Could the site be ironic, like a satire or a spoof?
Based on CRAP Test developed by Molly Beestrum, Dominican University. Adapted from examples provided by Vanderbilt University Library and Mercer University Libraries.
