The CRAAP Test
The CRAAP Test is a method for evaluating sources, which has you evaluate a source by answering questions based on five categories. These categories are easy to remember with the CRAAP acronym:
- C = Currency
- R = Relevance
- A = Authority
- A = Accuracy
- P = Purpose
Tip: Context is everything. Do not look at these categories as immediate yes/no or good/bad evaluations of a source. Instead, look at these questions as ways to understand the broader context of a source and how it can or should be used in your research.
Currency: The timeliness of the information
- When was the information created and/or published?
- Does the date matter for your research?
- Context: Older sources can contain outdated information. However, sometimes those sources are important for background information or because they are foundational studies on a topic. Additionally, sometimes your topic requires you to have historical perspectives on a topic, such as a historiography. Your research topic context is important when understanding the timeliness of a source.
- Tip: Find this information in copyright dates (books), publication dates (articles, newspapers), posting dates (websites, social media), updated/revised dates (websites)
Relevance: How the information fits your needs.
- Is this a good source for you and your topic of question?
- Scope: Is it too broad or narrow to be helpful?
- Audience: Who is the intended audience?
- Tip: The goal of this step is to understand if a source is useful to your research before you read the entire source. If you are looking at a book, look at the table of contents, index, or a review before sitting down to read part or all the book. If you are looking at an article, look at the abstract, first paragraph, and final paragraph before reading the entire source.
Authority: The source of the information.
- Who is the author? What are their credentials or affiliations?
- What type of authority is the author? (scholarly expertise, societal position, special experience)
- Are they qualified to write on this subject?
- Tip: There are many ways to check the authority of a source: look up information on the journal, author’s blurb on magazines and websites, the ‘About the Author’ section in the back of a book, or the ‘About Us’ section of a website. However, it is often better to see what others say about a source. Here are two tricks on how to do that:
- Just Add Wikipedia: search the main website URL, organization, or person’s name and add Wikipedia to an Internet search.
- Web Searching: If the author, organization, or publisher does not have a Wikipedia entry, try performing an Internet search with the organization or person’s name with -site:www.organizationsdomain.com this will bring up websites mentioning the organization but will exclude the organization’s website from your search results.
- Tip: Domain names provide contextual information on the source's creation, it does not the final guarantee that a source is credible or not. Educational sites (.edu) and government sites (.gov) can include peer-reviewed authoritative information as well as personal websites for officials and employees. Be very wary of organizational (.org) websites because anyone can purchase this domain and every organization should be investigated before using their information in your research.
Accuracy: The reliability and correctness of the information.
- Is this fact or opinion?
- Can other sources verify this information?
- What is the author or publishers’ worldviews or biases (political, ideological, religious…)?
- Are there references or other ways to verify the information?
- Context: All authors have a bias. What is important is to understand what is your source’s bias? Discern if they are trying to hide their bias, and how that bias impacts your research.
Purpose: The reason the information exists.
- What is the source’s agenda? What is the source trying to do? (inform, education, influence, entertain, sell…)
- How is the source written (is the language calm or provocative)?
- Are all sides of a topic or debate represented in the source (balanced)?
- Context: All sources have an agenda. What is important is to understand what your source’s agenda is and how that impacts your research. Context is critical.
