CATS 1101 - Understanding India through Bollywood Cinema: Evaluate Resources

We all know there is a wealth of information available on the Internet.  The problem with searching for information on the Internet is that we don't always know where it comes from and whether or not it is authoritative.  It is important to be selective and to evaluate the information you find online.  The CRAAP Test is a list of questions you can ask yourself in order to determine if the information on a web site is reliable. CRAAP is an acronym for:

Currency - Is the material current? Does it contain outdated or disproven information? Is the site maintained regularly?

Relevance - Is the material relevant to your question?

Author - Who wrote the content? What are the author's qualifications? Is there a way to contact the author?

Accuracy - How accurate is the information? What evidence does the author use? Does the author cite sources?

Purpose - What is the purpose of the content? Is the content objective or biased?

Bias is "a predisposition or a preconceived opinion that prevents a person from impartially evaluating facts that have been presented for determination" about someone or something. Other types of bias include

• Explicit bias refers to attitudes and beliefs (positive or negative) that we consciously or deliberately hold and express about a person or group. Explicit and implicit biases can sometimes contradict each other.
   
• Implicit bias includes attitudes and beliefs (positive or negative) about other people, ideas, issues, or institutions that occur outside of our conscious awareness and control, which affect our opinions and behavior. Everyone has implicit biases—even people who try to remain objective (e.g., judges and journalists)—that they have developed over a lifetime. 
   
• Confirmation bias, or the selective collection of evidence, is our subconscious tendency to seek and interpret information and other evidence in ways that affirm our existing beliefs, ideas, expectations, and/or hypotheses. Therefore, confirmation bias is both affected by and feeds our implicit biases. It can be most entrenched around beliefs and ideas that we are strongly attached to or that provoke a strong emotional response.

To accurately identify different types of bias, you should be aware of the issues of the day, and the many perspectives on each issue. Make sure you are reading all sides of an issue and that your sources reflect a balanced view. The chart below may be helpful in identifying potential bias in major U.S. media.