Evaluating Information

Sometimes the CRAAPP test falls short of determining if a source is truthful or not. To fact check, use the Four Moves and a Habit.

Four Moves and A Habit Infographic

Mike Caufield is the author of Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers...and Other People Who Care About Facts. This is the key publication that introduced the "Four Moves and a Habit" process.

Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers

Navigating Digital Information is another great resource to develop fact-checking skills. This series comes from CrashCourse. "In 10 episodes, John Green will teach you how to navigate the internet! We’ve partnered with MediaWise, The Poynter Institute, and The Stanford History Education Group to develop this curriculum of hands-on skills to help you evaluate the information you read online. By the end of this course, you will be able to: * Examine information using the same skills and questions as fact-checkers * Read laterally to learn more about the authority and perspective of sources * Evaluate different types of evidence, from videos to infographics * Understand how search engines and social media feeds work * Break bad internet habits like impatience and passivity, and build better ones

Crash Course: Navigating Digital Information Playlist

Evaluating Health Information

Millions of consumers get health information from magazines, TV or the Internet. Some of the information is reliable and up to date; some is not. How can you tell the good from the bad?

How Do I...?

Information needs to be evaluated before you use it. Not all information is created equally. Make sure you are using quality resources. This is especially true for websites. Always evaluate information you find on the Internet for reliability.

One way to evaluate information is with the CRAAPP Test. The CRAAPP Test is a series of questions to ask yourself about the source before you decide how to use it or if you want to use it at all.

C: Currency

When was this published?

Has it been revised?

Can you use older sources or do they need to be within a certain time frame?

R: Relevance

Does this information relate to your topic or answer your question?

Who is the intended audience?

Is this information appropriate for you to be citing in a research paper?

A: Authority

Who is the author/source of this information?

Is the author qualified to be writing on this topic?

If it is a website, what does the URL say about the author/publisher?

A: Accuracy

Where does this information come from?

Is it supported by evidence?

Has it been reviewed (peer-reviewed)?

What type of language is being used?

Is it free of errors, free of emotion and is there bias?

P: Purpose

What is the intent of this information?

Is the point of view objective?

Is the information meant to teach, inform, persuade, or entertain?

P: Publication

Who published this information?

Is it scholarly?

Is it a magazine, blog or social media?

Is it the result of scholarly research but not reviewed (dissertation, government document, gray literature)?

Mattson, J. L., & Oberlies, M. K. (Eds.). (2018). Framing information literacy: Teaching grounded in theory, pedagogy, and practice. Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries.

Evaluating Information

Sometimes the CRAAPP test falls short of determining if a source is truthful or not. To fact check, use the Four Moves and a Habit.

Mike Caufield is the author of Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers...and Other People Who Care About Facts. This is the key publication that introduced the "Four Moves and a Habit" process.

Evaluating Health Information

Resources from the National Library of Medicine on Medline Plus