COLSC 101 - College Success - Career Research Project: Online Resources

Currency: the timeliness of the information

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the information current or out-of date for your topic?
• Are the links functional?

Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable using this source for a research paper?

Authority: the source of the information

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or e-mail address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source?
•  examples: .com (commercial), .edu (educational), .gov (U.S. government), org (nonprofit organization), or .net (network

Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content, and

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge?
• Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?

Purpose: the reason the information exists

• What is the purpose of the information? to inform? teach? sell? entertain? persuade?
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear?
• Is the information fact? opinion? propaganda?
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial?
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases?

By scoring each category on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 = worst, 10=best possible) you can give each site a grade on a 50 point scale for how high-quality it is!

45 - 50 Excellent | 40 - 44 Good | 35 - 39 Average | 30 - 34 Borderline Acceptable | Below 30 - Unacceptable

Source:
Meriam Library, University of California at Chico. Evaluating Information – Applying the CRAAP Test (2010). September 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.

The following sites can supplement the resources you've already found using the sites listed on the  "Start Here" page and searching for books and articles in the library.

Also check the professional associations and organizations of your intended career field.

• Look for salary surveys, demographics, career information and other pages/links that might answer some of your questions.
• If you don't know the main professional organizations for your career, you can often find them in career articles, for example through the Gale Ebooks (Gale Reference). Look under the articles tab in this guide on how to search Gale Ebooks.