Library Session Supplement: WRTG 100,101,106

On the most basic level, using credible and accurate sources will ensure you do well on your class assignments. However, as you begin your college career it's important to think beyond this and begin to consider why you are selecting one source over another and what your own thought process is as you construct your idea of authority and authoritative sources. 

The following 5 checkpoints include several questions and factors to consider when evaluating your sources and determining what value they offer to your research.  

• Currency: What is the publish date? Do you need something current or can an older publish date still provide value to your topic/conversation?
• Relevance: Does this fit your research needs? It may be a strong article but is it tied to your topic enough?
• Authority: Who is the author? What are their credentials? Is it peer reviewed? What is the publisher reputation?
• Accuracy: Is the information true? What is being cited and can you cross check to find the same information elsewhere?
• Purpose: What is the intent behind this source? Bias? Of course there is bias in everything (including ourselves!) so it is important to be mindful of how we use and interpret information.

It is important to note that there is no clear cut yes or no answer for whether you should use a source or not. These checkpoints are intended to help you think through your purpose and context for using sources.

Lateral reading is useful when conducting online research and can be used with the CRAAP method.

This method takes a verifying on the go approach. When looking at one source look around for additional sources in the same topic area to determine where your original article stands in the larger conversation. Your original source may present as authoritative and relevant to your research but once you do some digging and looking at other sources in the topic area you may realize it actually falls out of line with the others. This doesn't mean you can't use the original source but it may change how you use it.