CRAAP+
Here are some other more indepth things to think about as you critically evaluate your information sources.
+Plus: How is the information impacted by the dominant culture?
- Who benefits from the story that is being told?
- Whose voices, concerns, and experiences are included? Whose are excluded?
- What assumptions are made? What unexamined beliefs does the author appear to have? What is the author unconscious/unaware of?
- What power dynamics are at work?
Original CRAAP Test created by Chico State Librarians. Plus questions inspired by the work of Angela Pashia.
Going a Step Beyond CRAAP
The CRAAP Test is a great way to do some basic evaluation of a source. But often when you're evaluating a webpage, CRAAP is not enough because you can't find all the information you need on the page itself - you need to leave the page and do some additional research about the organization, the author, or the claims being made.
Mike Caulfield's free ebook Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers suggest four ways to fact-check sources that go beyond the CRAAP test:
- Check for previous work
When researching a claim, see if a reputable fact-checking organization like Factcheck.org or Snopes has already de-bunked it
- Go upstream to find the source
Does the article you're reading refer to a study, aPew research survey, an expert opinion, or some other outside source? Hop onto the library's OneSearch database or Google and see if you can find that original source!
- Read laterally
See what others are writing and saying about the author, the organization, and/or the claim being made.
- Circle back
Stuck? Go back to the webpage you're trying to evaluate, take stock of what you know so far, and try a different approach.