It's fairly safe to trust information you find through the library. The types of resources found through Seneca Libraries have been reviewed several times for quality and accuracy of information. However, you may still need to evaluate the library resource to make sure that it's relevant to your topic and matches the assignment requirements.
If you're using websites and other Internet sources in your assignment, it's important to evaluate these online sources for quality and credibility. How do you know what is trustworthy? One way to check for accuracy and reliability of information is to apply the CRAAP test.
It's fairly safe to trust information you find through the library. The types of resources found through Seneca Libraries have been reviewed for quality and accuracy of information. However, you may still need to evaluate the library resource to make sure that it's relevant to your topic and matches the assignment requirements.
If you're using websites and other online sources in your assignment, it's important to evaluate these sources for quality and credibility. One way to check for accuracy and reliability of information is to apply the CRAAP test.
In Fall 2024 semester, a COM student was researching the positive and negative aspects of banning cellphones in classrooms for their research essay. For their assignment, they were allowed to use information found on websites. After Googling their topic, they found an online article that appeared to be a relevant source. Here's how they evaluated the article using the CRAAP test:
Open the article in a new window
| Currency | The article was published on June 20, 2024 and provided current information about the topic. This passed the Currency part of the CRAAP test. |
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| Relevance | The student was writing about banning cellphones in classrooms. The article discussed the benefits and drawbacks of cellphone bans in classrooms. The article also discussed the effects of smartphone use and social media to mental health. Considering that the source contained relevant information on the research topic, this would pass the Relevancy part of the CRAAP test. |
| Authority |
The article was authored by three academics from universities in Canada who specialize in the fields of psychology, child development, and/or mental health. Given this information, it would be reasonable to say that they are qualified to write about the topic. The article was published in the website The Conversation Canada, which publishes news and articles written by academics. On the Who We Are and Our Charter pages of the website, information was provided on the site's history and publishing standards. Based on the information on these pages, it would be reasonable to say that they are a reputable website. Considering that the publisher and authors are authoritative, this would pass the Authority part of the CRAAP test. |
| Accuracy | The authors referenced many credible sources in their article to support their discussion. Many of the references were for peer-reviewed research articles from academic journals. The links to the sources were also active and can be accessed. Based on this information, the article passed the Accuracy part of the CRAAP test. |
| Purpose | The main purpose of the article is to inform. No bias was observed and the authors provided mostly facts and data about the topic. The article passed the Purpose part of the CRAAP test. |