We have all noticed that there is a huge amount of false or misleading information pouring into popular media channels. All this noise can make the work of online research more difficult and time-consuming. To prepare, equip yourself with a few solid tools for evaluating information that you can apply in any situation. Keep reading this guide to get started!
It is not meant to be exhaustive, but to be a quick and practical tool. Use it to quickly decide if a source is worth the effort of a more thorough evaluation (such as the CRAAP Test method).
The first move is the simplest. Stop and ask yourself:
Find out about your source before you read it.
If you can't find out more about the source, or find that it's not reliable, move away from the particular source you're reading and try to find a different source that addresses the same claims from your original source.
Think about it like this: it's usually not the particular source you care about, it's the information, or the claim the source makes. You want to know, is the claim true or false? Does the claim represent a consensus viewpoint, or is it the subject of disagreement?
A lot of things you find on the internet have been stripped of context. Often only a part of a story is told, or a single claim is pulled from a scientific paper, making it very misleading.
In some cases these techniques will show you claims are outright wrong, or that sources are legitimately "bad actors" who are trying to deceive you (this is called "disinformation"). But even when material is not intentionally deceptive (this is called "misinformation") the moves do something just as important:
SIFT and its description were created by Mike Caulfield and spelled out in his course "Check, Please".
from Meriam Library, CSU at Chico
When you search for information, you're going to find lots of it . . . but is it good information? You will have to determine that for yourself, and the CRAAP Test can help. The CRAAP Test is a list of questions to help you evaluate the information you find. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need.
Authority: The source of the information.
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