Evaluating sources using the C.R.A.P test
Use the C.R.A.P. Evaluation criteria below to evaluate the quality of your source.
- If your source does not satisfy these criteria, you may want to find a different, more credible source
Currency
- When was the source published or updated?
- Is currency of info important for your topic? (Does info change rapidly or frequently?)
- Is older, historical info important for your topic?
Reliability
- Where do the facts or info come from?
- Is content of the resource primarily opinion? Primarily fact? Is it balanced?
- Can you find citations or lists of references?
- Can you verify any of the info in another source?
- Does the source go through some type of review process before it is published?
Authority
- Is the info from an authoritative source?
- What is considered “authoritative” for your topic?
- Can you determine the author’s or organization’s qualifications, credentials, expertise, affiliations, experience?
- Does the author acknowledge any biases?
Purpose
- Why is this info being published? To inform, teach, sell, entertain, persuade, other? How did you determine this?
- Who is the intended audience?
- Can you determine if the publisher/sponsor has political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?
- For web sources, what is the domain? (.edu, .gov, .com, .org, .net, other?)
