UC 1010

Evaluating your resources is an essential part of research.  There are a number of ways that you will want to evaluate material when you do research, keeping in mind that each research paper or project has an individual approach which necessitates your evaluation of appropriate materials.  What is "appropriate" will be different each time because each project requires a specific treatment due to your topic, instructor requirements, and available resources.

Below are two videos on the CRAAP Test.  The CRAAP Test helps you to evaluate ALL information that you find, whether it comes from the web or a library.  The first video is very descriptive, while the second video uses examples to make you think about whether the materials the actor chooses can pass the CRAAP Test.

Think about resources you visit on the web and you are probably all ready using your own evaluations like the CRAAP Test!

(Thank you to Aaron Bowen for the first video, "CRAAP Test Information VIdeo," at CSU-Chico and to Audrey Ferrie for the second video, "The C.R.A.A.P. Test," at the Academy of Art University.)

Whenever we evaluate information, we also have to consider whether the types sources we find are appropriate for our research.  They can be popular or scholarly and depending upon the scope of your research, either or both may be relevant and serve your purposes in your research project.  

This video below is brought to you by California State University at Santa Barbara's (CSUSB) John M. Pfau Library. 

This video is exceptional because it describes how information evolves through the information cycle, how more elevated research evolves from simple events or ideas.