craap test essay examples

Evaluating Sources: The CRAAP Test

• CRAAP Test Alternatives
• Evaluating Books
• Evaluating Journal Articles
• Evaluating Websites
• Evaluating Images
• How to Avoid Fake News This link opens in a new window

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What is the CRAAP Test?

CRAAP is an acronym for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. Use the CRAAP Test to evaluate your sources.

Currency : the timeliness of the information

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the information current or out-of date for your topic?
• Are the links functional?   

Relevance : the importance of the information for your needs

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable using this source for a research paper?

Authority : the source of the information

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or e-mail address?
• .com (commercial), .edu (educational), .gov (U.S. government)
• .org (nonprofit organization), or
• .net (network)

Accuracy : the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?

Purpose : the reason the information exists

• What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach? sell? entertain? persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact? opinion? propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?

Evaluation Materials

• CRAAP Test: Slide Presentation
• CRAAP Evaluation Checklist
• Evaluating Sources Checklist
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• Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 3:46 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.ben.edu/source-evaluation

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Evaluating Sources

• Evaluate Source - SIFT

Short Videos to Help You to Critically Evaluate Sources

• Evaluating Sources - Worksheet
• In-Class Exercise

• Evaluate Sources Using CRAAP Test
• Evaluating Sources for Credibility
• Format Matters
• Credibility is contextual

The CRAAP test is one technique to help you in evaluating sources and determining whether you should use them in your research assignments.

CRAAP stands for: C urrency, R elevance, A uthority, A ccuracy, P urpose

The short video below walks you though the parts of the CRAAP test and provides you with examples of criteria for each part of the CRAAP test.

The short video below helps you determine whether a source is credible (i.e., high quality, trustworthy, and believable) and touches on criteria that are not readily apparent in the CRAAP test.

Using credible sources is key to your success on academic research project because high quality sources make your project high quality!

Sources of information come in many different formats - from books, newspapers, academic articles to blogs, tweets, and memes. These sources differ in terms of the process of how they are created. This process can impact whether and how you might use a source in your academic research project.

The short video below helps you better understand these processes and explores when using different formats of information might be appropriate.

This short video guides you in finding credible sources for research projects, and explains why some sources are more credible than others.

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• Next: Evaluating Sources - Worksheet >>
• Last updated: Aug 29, 2022 11:07 AM
• URL: https://libguides.asu.edu/evaluate

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Evaluating Sources

Craap analysis.

One excellent tool to examine both the suitability and trustworthiness of a source is the CRAAP method, which stands for:

• C urrency: the timeliness of the information
• R elevance: the importance of the information for your needs
• A uthority: the source of the information
• A ccuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the information
• P urpose: the reason the information exists

The following video offers a good explanation of these points of analysis.

Currency: The Timeliness of the Information

Determining when an item of information was published or produced is an aspect of evaluating information. The date the information was published or produced tells you how current it is or how relevant it is to the topic you are researching. For example, if you were writing a research paper on the survival of passengers in car crashes, you would need the most recent information on automobile crash tests, structural strength of materials, car wreck mortality statistics, etc. If, on the other hand, you were writing a research paper on the feelings of college students about the Vietnam War during the1960s, you would need information written in the 1960s by college students (primary sources) as well as materials written since then about college students in the 1960s (secondary sources). Key indicators of the currency of the information are:

• date of copyright
• date of publication
• date of revision or edition
• dates of sources cited
• date of patent or trademark

Relevance: The Importance of the Information for Your Needs

When you read through your source, consider how the source will effectively support your argument and how you can use the source in your research essay. You should also consider whether the source provides sufficient coverage of the topic. Information sources with broad, shallow coverage mean that you need to find other sources of information to obtain adequate details about your topic. Information sources with a very narrow focus or a distinct bias mean that you need to find additional sources to obtain the information on other aspects of your topic. Some questions to consider are:

• Does the information relate to my topic, research question, or angle in my working thesis?
• Who is the source’s intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (e.g., not too simple or advanced) for my needs?
• Did I look at a variety of sources before deciding to use this one?

Authority: The Source of the Information

Determining the knowledge and expertise of the author is an important aspect of evaluating the reliability of information. Anyone can make an assertion or a statement about some thing, event, or idea, but only someone who knows or understands what that thing, event, or idea is can make a reasonably reliable assertion about it. Some external indications of expertise are:

• a formal academic degree in a subject area
• professional or work-related experience, e.g., businessmen, government agency personnel, sports figures, etc. have expertise in their areas of work
• active involvement in a subject or organization by serious amateurs who spend substantial amounts of personal time researching and studying that subject area
• organizations, agencies, institutions, corporations with active involvement or work in a particular subject area.

Accuracy: The Reliability, Truthfulness, and Correctness of the Information

Establishing the accuracy, or relative accuracy, of information is an important part of evaluating the reliability of information. It is easier to establish the accuracy of facts than it is opinions, interpretations, or ideas. The more an idea, opinion, or other piece of information varies from the accepted point of view on a particular topic, the harder it is to establish its accuracy. An important aspect of accuracy is the intellectual integrity of the item:

• Are the sources appropriately cited in the text and listed in the references?
• Are quotations cited correctly and in context? Out-of-context quotations can be misleading and sometimes completely erroneous.
• Are there exaggerations, omissions, or errors? These are difficulty to identify if you use only one source of information, so always use several different sources of information. Analyzing what different sources say about a topic is one way to determine exaggerations, omissions, and errors.

In addition to errors of fact and integrity, you need to watch for errors of logic. Errors of logic occur primarily in the presentation of conclusions, opinions, interpretations, editorials, ideas, etc. Some indications that information is accurate are:

• the same information can be found in other reliable sources
• the experiment can be replicated and returns the same results
• the documentation provided in support of the information is substantive
• the sources used for documentation are generally reliable
• the author of the information is known to have expertise on that subject
• the presentation is free from logical fallacies or errors
• quotations are “in context” so that the intended meaning of the information quoted is retained
• quotations, paraphrases, and summaries are correctly cited

Some indications that information may not be accurate are:

• facts cannot be verified or are contradicted in other sources
• sources used are known to be unreliable or highly biased
• bibliography of sources used is inadequate or non-existent
• quotations are taken out of context and given a different meaning
• presence of one or more logical fallacies
• authority cited is another part of the same organization

Purpose: The Reason the Information Exists

Identifying the intended audience of the information and identifying the author’s purpose are other important aspects of evaluating information. The intended audience of an item generally determines the style of presentation, the level of technical detail, and the depth of coverage. Determining the intended audience of a particular piece of information will help you decide whether or not the information is too basic, too technical, too general, or just right for your needs. The intended audience can also indicate the potential reliability of the item because some audiences require more documentation than others. For example, items produced for scholarly or professional audiences are generally produced by experts and go through a peer review process. Items produced for the mass market frequently are not produced by experts and generally do not go through an evaluation process. Some indications of the intended audience are:

• highly technical language, complex analysis, very sophisticated/technical tools can indicate a technical, professional, or scholarly audience
• how-to information or current practices in “X” are frequently written by experts for practitioners in that field
• substantive and serious presentations of a topic with not too much technical language are generally written for the educated lay audience
• popular language, fairly simple presentations of a topic, with little or no analysis, can indicate a general or popular audience
• bibliographies, especially long bibliographies, are generally compiled by and for those doing research on that topic

You should also consider the author’s purpose. Is the information intended to inform or persuade? Does the author intend to present a bias? While it is unlikely that anything humans do is ever absolutely objective, it is important to establish that the information you intend to use is reasonably objective, or if it is not, to establish exactly what the point of view or bias is. There are times when information expressing a particular point of view or bias is useful, but you must use it consciously. You must know what the point of view is and why that point of view is important to your project.

The CRAAP Test

Review the steps of the CRAAP method and practice evaluating sources in this tutorial from Eastern Michigan University.

Be sure to complete the practice exercises at the end of the tutorial. (You may also access the tutorial and activity in a  text format .)

• CRAAP Analysis. Revision and adaptation of the page CRAAP Analysis at https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-englishcomposition1/chapter/video-evaluating-sources/ which is a revision and adaptation of the sources listed below. Authored by : Susan Oaks. Provided by : Empire State College, SUNY OER Services. Project : College Writing. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• CRAAP Analysis. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-englishcomposition1/chapter/video-evaluating-sources/ . Project : English Composition I. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Evaluating Sources. Provided by : Virginia Tech. Located at : https://guides.lib.vt.edu/RLCL1004/eval . Project : University Libraries Information Skills Modules. License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Evaluating Information. Provided by : The University of Rhode Island. Located at : http://uri.libguides.com/start/craap . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• CRAAP Tutorial. Authored by : Bill Marino. Provided by : Eastern Michigan University. Located at : http://www.emich.edu/library/help/reliability/ . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• video Evaluating Information using the CRAAP Test. Authored by : jwdenver. Provided by : Johnson & Wales University. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAWhE0mj69I . License : Other . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

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Learning Objectives

• Describe the use of the CRAAP test.
• Apply CRAAP test to various online sources.

When it comes to research, we can all agree that using Google to find sources is easy and rather convenient. Given how pressed we are for time in this modern day and age with work and school, and other parts of our lives, it’s easy to choose a research method that supports this.  Very often in a class like EN101, the research process takes a back seat to available time.  So we Google ideas, find some sources that “look good” and hope for the best.  But what professor’s read some days on the other side of that research process is often pretty thin when it comes substance.  Sure, a source can look/appear decent, but often there are hidden issues that are discovered later on…usually by the professor when grading an essay. Instructors write things like “source lacks authority” or “this is worse than a well researched Wikipedia article.” And then there are the inevitable point deductions.

Research in college should become a habit for aspiring scholars, and WHERE we find our sources matters.  Our first move should always be to the curated research databases provided by the college we attend.  Academic Search, Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Statista are all examples of databases that provide researchers solid options that bring high levels of credibility.  In short, you need never really worry about the sources you find in a research database.

Most everything else on the web (excluding Google Scholar ), on the other hand, is a potential problem and issues of credibility will remain.  However, with some subjects, content from the web will remain an important part of the work we do.  For instance, in the summer of 2018, students writing about the immigration and the forced separation of children from parents will find the most important information in the newspapers of the day.  So for current issues, Google remains  an important part of research.

If you find yourself on the web generally, consider this evaluation tool.  The CRAAP Test  takes you through a list of questions to help you evaluate the information you find. The different quality measures will be more or less important depending on your situation or need.

C urrency :   How old is this information?

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Does your topic require current information?
• Are the links on the site functional?

R elevance:  Does this information help me finish my assignment?

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too easy or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is the one you will use?

A uthority:  Is whoever created this an expert on the subject?

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• What are the author’s credentials or organizational affiliations?
• Is the author qualified to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?
• Does the URL (.edu/.gov/.com) reveal anything about the author or source?

A ccuracy:   How much can I trust this information?

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or verified by someone other than the author?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or typing errors?

P urpose:  Why was this information created?

• What is the purpose of the information?  Is it to inform, teach, sell, entertain, persuade?
• Is the information factual, opinion, or propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?

Test Your Ability to CRAAP

Okay, we can agree that the CRAAP acronym is…interesting. Fecal puns aside, the questions above can help you decide if a source is worth using.  The question of Authority looms large in academic research. When it comes to credentials (education, experience, and qualifications), these details matter.  For example, Professor Bryan Hiatt teaches English at Frederick Community College. His area of expertise is EN101, and in providing support to instructors who teach EN101. Yet from 2005-2012, Professor Hiatt wrote over 30 book reviews, short biographies, and other content for the World War II Database , an online site dedicated to the history of World War II.

LINK:  https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=181

Anyone visiting the site (and thousands have through the years), might find the design pleasing and the information compelling and informative. Yet exploring the  About pages at ww2db.com, it’s clear that the site is run by a dedicated editor who is a coder by trade, and a host of other very thoughtful history enthusiasts.  So while Professor Hiatt certainly brings a wealth of writing experience to any World War II piece, he’s a writing teacher…not a historian.  So his work, and the work of others on this site, probably isn’t the best choice when it comes to academic research.  Interesting to the right reader, no doubt.  The CRAAP test helps us to discover what’s really behind the curtain.

Linked below are web sites for review, each with its own set of issues.  The linked  worksheet (for instructors) can be a useful tool to help with the source evaluation process.

• https://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com
• http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/topics/environment
• http://www.globalwarming.org/
• http://www.epa.gov/gateway/science/climatechange.html
• https://www.dhmo.org/

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Information Literacy & Library Research: Applying the CRAAP Test to Sources

• Table of Contents
• Information Literacy
• Research Process
• Topics and Background Research
• Writing a Research Question
• Source Types
• Keyword Basics
• Research: A Journey in Small Steps
• Keywords and Boolean Logic
• Using Databases
• How to Find Books and eBooks
• Popular vs Scholarly
• Using MultiSearch
• Applying the CRAAP Test to Sources
• Citing with MLA 9
• Information Synthesis
• How to Read for Synthesis
• Information Has Value
• How to Avoid Plagiarism
• Module 6. Reflecting
• Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
• Copyright and Fair Use
• Creative Commons Licenses
• Information has Value
• Joining the Scholarly Conversation
• Library Classification Systems
• Google Scholar
• Find Journal by Title
• Advanced Search Strategies
• Subject Databases
• MLA Style Examples
• APA Style Examples
• Research Questions

Applying the CRAAP Test to Articles

When searching for articles in databases, the CRAAP test can be used to quickly evaluate any potential articles by looking through the detailed record, which is found by clicking on an article's title.

Here is a break down of where you can find some of the information in a library database:

Currency is found by looking at when the article was published. How does when it was publish affect the information based on your topic?

By scanning the abstract, you can quickly see if the article is relevant , as the abstract is a summary of what the article is about.

Authority can be gauged by looking at the authors themselves. Are they qualified to be writing about this subject with this amount of detail? You can see their institutional affiliations near the bottom, and you can also click their names to see what other articles they have written. Googling their names and their affiliations can give you more information on their educational background as well.

Accuracy is all about if they've supported their arguments, so looking at the article itself to see if there are graphs and citations is a good idea. You can also click on the journal title to see if the journal is peer reviewed or not, which gives an additional layer of accuracy to the article.

If your notice the purpose is highlighted by the PDF Full text icon, this is because skimming the actual article, especially the introduction and conclusion, can be the best way to assess the purpose of the article and whether it will work for your purpose.

The following video (5:20) will show how the CRAAP test can look when put into action, evaluating both a magazine article and a journal article.

Applying the CRAAP Test to Books

Using the CRAAP test on books is a little different. Books are formatted differently and are obviously much longer than research articles. This means that checking for the  CRAAP criteria will take just a little bit more digging. You can search for books in the Books and eBooks catalog , or MultiSearch . In both locations you can search using the skills we learned in Module 3, to find books on your topic. You will want to click on the book title for more details so you can apply the CRAAP test criteria.

Here is a breakdown of how you can find that information in the Books and eBooks catalog and MultiSearch:

Look for currency in the same location as an article, the publication date. Based on that date, explain whether the book is current enough, given your topic. 

To establish relevance , use the book summary, similar to the abstract of an article. You can quickly scan the book summary or the table of contents in the front of the book to get an idea of how relevant the book’s content might be. Pay attention to specific chapters, because the entire book might be too broad for your topic, but a particular chapter of the book might be relevant to you.

Gauge authority by looking into the authors. Who are they? What are their credentials? You might have to do some background research in Google to find out more but sometimes books will have author blurbs.

Accuracy is the most difficult to establish, because books aren't peer reviewed in the way that articles are. However, you can still check for citations and look into the publishers of the book. The quickest tell is if the publisher is an academic press, such as one belonging to a university. They usually have the most rigorous editorial process. But that doesn't mean other presses and publishers are less good. Simply look into the publisher. How well known are they? What do they typically publish? Nonfiction publishers will also be considered academic to a certain degree. Are they a regular publishing company or are they self-published? Self-published books generally haven’t gone through a formal editorial process, and therefore could potentially be less accurate. Citations in books can be in a number of places, so you have to actually open the book or ebook and check. Some books have them at the end of each chapter, some in footnotes, and some at the very end of the book. They will usually be labeled as "notes'' or "references."

You can find the purpose by reading the book summary, as well as the preface of the book, if you are doing a deeper dive into the book. The acknowledgments page is also a place to look for some clues as to the purpose.

Applying CRAAP Test to Websites

Using the CRAAP test on websites is probably the most important, since there is little to no regulation on what can be published on the internet. Websites are also formatted very differently from books and research articles. This means that checking for the CRAAP criteria will take more digging and some creativity. Anytime you do a Google or other internet search, whether for academic research or an informal query, you should be using the CRAAP test to evaluate the quality of information you are accessing.

Here is a breakdown of how you can evaluate the websites you use while searching the internet:

Look for currency as you search. Sometimes the date for when a page on a website is published will be listed under the title of your results. Other times it will be at the top of the page itself, especially when the source is a news site or blog with frequent updates of articles and stories. Other websites might be updated frequently too, but won’t necessarily refresh the date for each update. How can you tell how current the information is in those cases? You can look for any dates listed on the page. Sometimes there will be dates in the text, other times you can check for the copyright date at the bottom of the page, which should be current. If not, you know that the site is not maintained and the information is either out of date or less reliable.

To establish relevance , use the title followed by the summary below the title in your search results, and then skim the actual webpages to get a good idea of the content.

Check the authority  of the authors in the same way. But not all webpages will have authors listed, so how can you gauge authority? You can do so by looking at the owner of the website, the company and associated organizations. News companies will usually list their journalists as authors, but other organizations will post anonymously under just the company name. Government websites will only publish under government agency or department name.

Accuracy is the most difficult to establish, because websites are not peer reviewed, and there is usually no editing process. Is the website associated with a well known organization, educational institution, or news source? Does the website have citations or links to external sources? These citations won’t necessarily be the formal citation styles that you will see in academic sources, but if they are linking to their sources, that is a good indication of accuracy. Make sure to check where the links lead, to see if they are actually linking to the legitimate source and not just creating the illusion of citing their sources. If the website has lots of spelling and grammatical errors, the information might be sketchy as well. Also, what type of website is it? Is it a .com or .org? In general, .edu are considered the most accurate and authoritative because they represent educational websites that are affiliated with educational institutions. 

The purpose of a website can be tricky to find at times. This is another time where the domain types can give you hints. The .com domains are for profit, .gov are government websites, .edu are educational websites, and .org are for organizations which can be for various purposes. Other ways you can tell the purpose of a website is to try and find the “about'' page, which should give some background information on the website and its purpose. Other tactics include skimming relevant pages to find what type of rhetoric is being used. Are they trying to sell you on an idea or product? Is it clickbait ? Are there more ads than content? Is the language neutral or inflammatory? In these cases, the information might be biased or otherwise unreliable.  

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• Last Updated: Aug 9, 2024 1:42 PM
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Website Research: Evaluating Example Websites

• Evaluating Example Websites
• Wikipedia References
• Google Scholar
• Open Educational Resources (OER)

Website Examples

To practice evaluating websites you find, let's apply the CRAAP tests to the sites below.  

• First, let's take a look at two spoof websites.  They both have obvious problems, but trying out the CRAAP test on them will help you in evaluating other websites that may fool you into believing they are credible sources.
• Second, try comparing information on a topic from three different websites to see which would be the best to use in an academic research paper.  Remember to check the footers, top menus, and the About sections of each page!

SPOOF WEBSITE 1

This site is a fairly obvious joke - octopi are sea animals and do not live in trees (in the Pacific Northwest or elsewhere).  However, the site is very content-rich and well-organized.  If the subject were the (not real) endangered Pacific Northwest Pine Owl, would you be able to tell the site was a fake?

CRAAP Test:

• CURRENCY -  looking at the footer tells us the site was created in 1998, and last updated in May of 2015
• RELEVANCE - the audience appears to be adults interested in preserving endangered species; the presence of an online store selling merchandise gives it the appearance of an organization
• AUTHORITY - the site author is someone named Lyle Zapato, whose name links to a personal website with no scientific credentials; it is clearly stated that "the site is not associated with any school or educational organization"; and the only contact information is the author's blog
• ACCURACY - most of the sources from this site link back to the author's blog, and many of the others lead to .net, .org, or .com websites written in the same tone as this
• PURPOSE - the content makes it clear that this website exists to entertain

Conclusion - this is NOT a valid website to use in scholarly research!

Apply the CRAAP Test - Nutrition Resources

Apply the CRAAP test to the following websites - which would you use in an academic research paper?  Which would you not use?

• The Nutrition Source
• ChooseMyPlate
• NutritionData

SPOOF WEBSITE 2

This site is a little more tricky; it's an example of a website with entirely fake information, but designed to look as if it's legit.  A quick glance at the home page makes it seem like any other research hospital, but look again; the activities of this "medical center" don't bear close examination.

• CURRENCY - there is no copyright date apparent on the website
• RELEVANCE - the content appears to be written for potential patients
• AUTHORITY - the website relies on its self-proclaimed research hospital status as its authority; it is affiliated with a medical school that, according to Google, doesn't exist; and the only contact information is an address that Google Maps cannot find, and an online form that doesn't state to whom it is sent
• ACCURACY - though it appears unbiased with accurate spelling and grammar, all the information about the hospital, its staff and its research is stated without any references at all; many of the links are not functioning
• PURPOSE - the site's purpose appears to highlight its so-called medical breakthroughs, but the content reveals this site to be an entertaining hoax
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• Next: Wikipedia References >>
• Last Updated: May 28, 2021 3:43 PM
• URL: https://library.famu.edu/websiteresearch

Writing Article: CRAAP Analysis Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

When analyzing an article, it is necessary to rely on the CRAAP 5-criteria methodology, which allows one to evaluate the appropriateness of using the work for your research. The methodology contains five criteria: currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose. Borsellino’s article Why writing skills are important for every job–and how to improve yours is valid and can be used when writing any paper because it expands the idea of writing skills.

The currency criterion reflects the relevance of the article based on its standards of scholarship and objectivity. Borsellino’s paper provides an actual overview of writing skills in line with new trends in marketing, technology, and communications (Borsellino, n.d.). While writing skills are generally unchanged, the paper offers recent advice given the narrow focus for such criteria as Planning and/or Outlining (Borsellino, n.d.). This article offers a new way of looking at familiar skills and finding effective uses for them.

The relevance criterion reveals the relationship of the paper’s topic to the information provided. Borsellino’s paper has a structure that directly follows the title and ties the information together for a complete picture of the writing skills in a work setting. For example, the headline Showing Off Your Writing Skills in a Job Search allows one to test your skills in an interview (Borsellino, n.d.). The authority criterion relates to the credibility of the information and the ability to refer to it. The work is published on Muse, which generally meets the requirements for paper quality.

The accuracy criterion is consistent with the evidence provided by the author in the paper. Article includes specific examples and writing tips, and additional links to outside sources. For example, the block Pay Attention to the Mechanics of Your Writing allows one to enrich your knowledge of specific writing skills techniques (Borsellino, n.d.). The criterion of purpose is related to what the information is provided for. Since the aim was to find a paper that reveals writing skills, the paper used meets this criterion.

Analyzed paper has all the criteria of CRAAP and meets the request for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose. The article Why writing skills are important for every job–and how to improve yours has information about the preparation of non-fiction writing in papers that will be useful due to its credibility and breadth of use. It has structure, particular purpose and examples and its service is helpful in the preparation of paper.

Borsellino, R. (n.d.). Why writing skills are important for every job—and how to improve yours . The Muse . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, May 15). Writing Article: CRAAP Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/writing-article-craap-analysis/

"Writing Article: CRAAP Analysis." IvyPanda , 15 May 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/writing-article-craap-analysis/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Writing Article: CRAAP Analysis'. 15 May.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Writing Article: CRAAP Analysis." May 15, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/writing-article-craap-analysis/.

1. IvyPanda . "Writing Article: CRAAP Analysis." May 15, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/writing-article-craap-analysis/.

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IvyPanda . "Writing Article: CRAAP Analysis." May 15, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/writing-article-craap-analysis/.

Frequently asked questions

What is the craap test.

The CRAAP test is an acronym to help you evaluate the credibility of a source you are considering using. It is an important component of information literacy .

The CRAAP test has five main components:

• Currency: Is the source up to date?
• Relevance: Is the source relevant to your research?
• Authority: Where is the source published? Who is the author? Are they considered reputable and trustworthy in their field?
• Accuracy: Is the source supported by evidence? Are the claims cited correctly?
• Purpose: What was the motive behind publishing this source?

Frequently asked questions: Working with sources

Synthesizing sources means comparing and contrasting the work of other scholars to provide new insights.

It involves analyzing and interpreting the points of agreement and disagreement among sources.

You might synthesize sources in your literature review to give an overview of the field of research or throughout your paper when you want to contribute something new to existing research.

You can find sources online using databases and search engines like Google Scholar . Use Boolean operators or advanced search functions to narrow or expand your search.

For print sources, you can use your institution’s library database. This will allow you to explore the library’s catalog and to search relevant keywords.

Lateral reading is the act of evaluating the credibility of a source by comparing it with other sources. This allows you to:

• Verify evidence
• Contextualize information
• Find potential weaknesses

As you cannot possibly read every source related to your topic, it’s important to evaluate sources to assess their relevance. Use preliminary evaluation to determine whether a source is worth examining in more depth.

This involves:

• Reading abstracts , prefaces, introductions , and conclusions
• Looking at the table of contents to determine the scope of the work
• Consulting the index for key terms or the names of important scholars

An abstract concisely explains all the key points of an academic text such as a thesis , dissertation or journal article. It should summarize the whole text, not just introduce it.

An abstract is a type of summary , but summaries are also written elsewhere in academic writing . For example, you might summarize a source in a paper , in a literature review , or as a standalone assignment.

All can be done within seconds with our free text summarizer .

You might have to write a summary of a source:

• As a stand-alone assignment to prove you understand the material
• For your own use, to keep notes on your reading
• To provide an overview of other researchers’ work in a literature review
• In a paper , to summarize or introduce a relevant study

You can assess information and arguments critically by asking certain questions about the source. You can use the CRAAP test , focusing on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

Ask questions such as:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert?
• Why did the author publish it? What is their motivation?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence?

Critical thinking skills include the ability to:

• Identify credible sources
• Evaluate and respond to arguments
• Assess alternative viewpoints
• Test hypotheses against relevant criteria

Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.

Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.

It is important to find credible sources and use those that you can be sure are sufficiently scholarly .

• Consult your institute’s library to find out what books, journals, research databases, and other types of sources they provide access to.
• Look for books published by respected academic publishing houses and university presses, as these are typically considered trustworthy sources.
• Look for journals that use a peer review process. This means that experts in the field assess the quality and credibility of an article before it is published.

In academic writing, the sources you cite should be credible and scholarly. Some of the main types of sources used are:

• Academic journals: These are the most up-to-date sources in academia. They are published more frequently than books and provide cutting-edge research.
• Books: These are great sources to use, as they are typically written by experts and provide an extensive overview and analysis of a specific topic.

Scholarly sources are written by experts in their field and are typically subjected to peer review . They are intended for a scholarly audience, include a full bibliography, and use scholarly or technical language. For these reasons, they are typically considered credible sources .

Popular sources like magazines and news articles are typically written by journalists. These types of sources usually don’t include a bibliography and are written for a popular, rather than academic, audience. They are not always reliable and may be written from a biased or uninformed perspective, but they can still be cited in some contexts.

There are many types of sources commonly used in research. These include:

• Journal articles
• Encyclopedias

You’ll likely use a variety of these sources throughout the research process , and the kinds of sources you use will depend on your research topic and goals.

You usually shouldn’t cite tertiary sources as evidence in your research paper, but you can use them in the beginning stages of the research process to:

• Establish background information
• Identify relevant keywords and terms
• Familiarize yourself with current debates in your field

Use tertiary sources in your preliminary research to find relevant primary and secondary sources that you will engage with in more depth during the writing process .

What constitutes a tertiary source depends on your research question and how you use the source.

To determine whether a source is tertiary, ask:

• Am I examining the source itself, or am I using it for background information?
• Does the source provide original information ( primary ) or analyze information from other sources ( secondary )? Or does it consolidate information from other sources (tertiary)?

Primary sources provide direct evidence about your research topic (photographs, personal letters, etc.).

Secondary sources interpret and comment on information from primary sources (academic books, journal articles, etc.).

Tertiary sources are reference works that identify and provide background information on primary and secondary sources . They do not provide original insights or analysis.

A tertiary source may list, summarize , or index primary and secondary sources or provide general information from a variety of sources. But it does not provide original interpretations or analysis.

Some examples of tertiary sources include:

• Bibliographies
• Dictionaries

It can sometimes be hard to distinguish accurate from inaccurate sources , especially online. Published articles are not always credible and can reflect a biased viewpoint without providing evidence to support their conclusions.

Information literacy is important because it helps you to be aware of such unreliable content and to evaluate sources effectively, both in an academic context and more generally.

Information literacy refers to a broad range of skills, including the ability to find, evaluate, and use sources of information effectively.

Being information literate means that you:

• Know how to find credible sources
• Use relevant sources to inform your research
• Understand what constitutes plagiarism
• Know how to cite your sources correctly

When searching for sources in databases, think of specific keywords that are relevant to your topic , and consider variations on them or synonyms that might be relevant.

Once you have a clear idea of your research parameters and key terms, choose a database that is relevant to your research (e.g., Medline, JSTOR, Project MUSE).

Find out if the database has a “subject search” option. This can help to refine your search. Use Boolean operators to combine your keywords, exclude specific search terms, and search exact phrases to find the most relevant sources.

Proximity operators are specific words used alongside your chosen keywords that let you specify the proximity of one keyword in relation to another.

The most common proximity operators include NEAR ( N x ), WITHIN ( W x ), and SENTENCE .

Each proximity operator has a unique function. For example, N x allows you to find sources that contain the specified keywords within a set number of words ( x ) of each other.

Boolean operators are specific words and symbols that you can use to expand or narrow your search parameters when using a database or search engine.

The most common Boolean operators are AND , OR , NOT or AND NOT , quotation marks “” , parentheses () , and asterisks * .

Each Boolean operator has a unique function. For example, the Boolean operator AND will provide search results containing both/all of your keywords.

A Boolean search uses specific words and symbols known as Boolean operators (e.g., AND , OR ) alongside keywords to limit or expand search results. Boolean searches allow you to:

• Prioritize keywords
• Exclude keywords
• Search exact keywords
• Search variations of your keywords

To avoid plagiarism when summarizing an article or other source, follow these two rules:

• Write the summary entirely in your own words by paraphrasing the author’s ideas.
• Cite the source with an in-text citation and a full reference so your reader can easily find the original text.

A summary is always much shorter than the original text. The length of a summary can range from just a few sentences to several paragraphs; it depends on the length of the article you’re summarizing, and on the purpose of the summary.

A summary is a short overview of the main points of an article or other source, written entirely in your own words. Want to make your life super easy? Try our free text summarizer today!

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