Library Guides: Bachelor of Applied Research (Honours) Guide: Evaluate your resources

Evaluate information

Use the CRAP test to evaluate any resources you want to use in your assessments.

Criteria	Ask Yourself	Example
Currency	When was the information published? Does currency matter for this topic? Is it current enough for your topic? When was the webpage last updated?	History of educational theories - older resources may be appropriate vs Social media in education - older resources may not be appropriate
Reliability	Who published the information? Is the source reputable? Is it peer reviewed? Does the creator provide references and are those references credible? Are there spelling, grammar or typographical errors?	A satirical news website (e.g. Betoota Advocate) vs A not for profit media group sourcing content from academics and researchers (e.g. The Conversation)
Authority	Who is the creator or author? Sources without an author may be less credible What are their qualifications, affiliations and experience? Are they an expert in the field?	An article written by a self-appointed expert that appears on a blog vs A peer reviewed article written by a team of university academics
Purpose	Why was the information published and who is the intended audience? Is the creator trying to sell, inform, entertain, persuade? Is it fact or opinion? Is it biased or balanced?	A webpage on diabetes from a pharmacy company that produces drugs to treat diabetes. They may have a vested interest. vs Diabetes information from a government website such as Australian Institute of Health & Welfare (AIHW). They have no vested interest.

Critical appraisal or critiquing the literature

Reading critically

The Sage Research Methods Online database (SRMO) is a good source of full text electronic Books, chapters, and articles on a range of research methodologies. It includes a wide range of items in relation to literature review processes, and importantly how to read critically.

Examples are:

Goodwyn, A. & Stables, A. W. (2004). Learning to read critically: Learning to read critically in language and literacy . SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849209410

Quinton, S. & Smallbone, T. (2006). How to read critically. In Sage Study Skills: Postgraduate research in business (pp. 81-96). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849209564.n6

Evaluate internet resources

The type of domain provides you a hint as to the reliability of the website at which you are looking.

.edu (educational institution)

.gov (government)

These are more likely to be reliable and unbiased.

.org (non-profit organisation)

.asn (non-commercial organisation)

Sometimes these organisations can be biased toward one side of an issue that is actually quite complex.

.com (commercial site)

.net (network)

Try to avoid these sites as they are likely to be unreliable.

.net is the domain given to any site that doesn't fit into the other domain categories.

If you find a .com or .net site that you think is ok, look at the currency, reliability, authority and purpose to see if your suspicion is supported by evidence.