How to Apply the CRAAP Test?
Get the Authorize Content
Tell me if this sounds familiar, you are searching online for sources for your research paper, and partly through reading, you ask yourself, Who writes this crap? You, your neighbor, or simply about anyone can publish online.
In the world of the web, you'll become Allie S. Everson, Ph.D., and write an article titled “The Evolution of String Theory: Are Scientists Stringing Us Along?” Sounds convincing. All you need to do is write the best summary of what you can follow up on Wikipedia. The problems with this are much simple. First, you’re likely plagiarizing another source to write down your article. And second, you’re deserving you hold a Ph.D.
Another problem is that some inexperienced students might be calling your bogus article in a research paper. You could easily fall victim to the bogus expert too if you don’t carefully choose your sources. So how exactly do you decide if a source is a crap?
Simple: Apply the CRAAP Test. The test helps you identify whether your sources are crap, so keep reading to find out the way to use them.
What Is the CRAAP Test?
The CRAAP Test is a series of questions to help you decide whether a source is reliable. It is like evaluating all the weather that structures a source through a microscope. You have to look at all of its parts to determine whether it’s suitable for your research essay.
CRAAP stands for “Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.” You will need to examine each one of these components to decide whether a source is CRAAP or whether it’s worthy of inclusion in your research paper.
Applying the CRAAP Test to Your Essay Sources
When you are completing research, you don’t want to use every source you find. You also can’t just assume that each one source is created equal.
Sure, you’ll save a lot of time by choosing the first five or ten sources that appear in your search results. But it’s not likely that they’ll be the best or most appropriate sources for your paper.
Why? Because when you research, you’ll find many sources that are, in fact, crap. To learn what’s useful and what’s not, test your sources by asking the questions listed under each of the following categories.
CRAAP Test: Currency
In this case, the currency has nothing to do with money. Here, currency refers to the timeliness of the source. In other words, when was it written?
Unless you’re critiquing a specific source or you are using it for a historical overview, you’ll want to find the most recent information possible. If you’re ordering a website, it might not be that easy to find the date the source was originally written.
But you ought to be ready to find the date the knowledge was last updated. Check rock bottom of the webpage for a date when the knowledge was created or last updated.
CRAAP Test: Relevance
This may sound a touch too obvious, but you’ll get to ask yourself whether the source has relevancy to your research. Just because you’re writing a paper about minimum-wage laws and the title of the article includes the words “minimum-wage laws,” you can’t automatically assume the content of the article meets your needs.
The article might explain the reasons that minimum charges laws were created. But if you’ve already located a source about the history of the law to use as background information, the article might not provide any new or useful information for your paper. You’ll also need to think about the intended audience and whether the source is written at an appropriate level.
If, for example, the source was written for middle school students and you’re writing a college research essay, you can pretty much assume your professor won’t be too happy seeing the source on your Works Cited or References page.
CRAAP Test: Authority
I have it on testimony that evaluating the authority of an internet site means quite simply locating the author of the article or site. Knowing the name of the author doesn’t do one much good if that’s all you recognize.
Start your review of the site’s authority by watching the author’s credentials. Does the author have a degree within the field? Does he or she work in the field? Has the author written other articles or books about the subject?
CRAAP Test: Accuracy
Does this source hit the mark? Is the information correct? Before you opt whether you would like to use the source in your essay, check to ascertain whether you'll verify the knowledge.
If one source states 75% of college students don’t bother to purchase the required textbooks for their courses and another source states roughly 10% of students don’t purchase textbooks, look to see how the statistics were gathered and check out to verify which source is correct.
Next, read carefully to form sure the author uses ample evidence to support claims. The final step in checking accuracy is to look at the author’s arguments. Is the information balanced, or is it biased? A biased source contains just one side of the argument, likely with little evidence to support claims.
CRAAP Test: Purpose
No, don’t spend some time now asking what’s the aim of writing a search paper. Now is the time to ask why your potential essay source was published.
- Was it written to inform readers?
- Does it use fair, unbiased language?
- Or is the purpose to persuade?
- Does the author use persuasive or manipulative language to convince readers?
- Again, this is especially important when evaluating websites. Does the website exist solely to sell you something?
- Is it trying to market a political or religious agenda?
If the source is biased and attempts to promote a specific agenda, it’s probably not your best bet for a research essay. Now that you know what the CRAAP Test is, let’s apply it to an example assignment.