CHEM5130_5130C Industrial Chemistry: Reading Scientific Literature

This video from Western University gives a beautiful break down on reading the different parts of a scholarly article. 

Using CRAAP to Evaluate Sources

The CRAAP Test is an easy way to evaluate sources. CRAAP is an easy to remember acronym that walks you through a set of questions to help you evaluate each source. 

C - Currency:  is the material current?

R - Relevant:  is the material relevant to my topic?

A - Authority: Who wrote/created this source?

A - Accuracy: Where does this information come from?

P - Purpose:  What is the purpose of this information (inform, pursuade, etc)?

  Below is a video from McMaster Libraries on using the CRAAP Test, and also a video from Portland State Unversity. They are using a slightly different version of CRAP, BUT I LOVE how they show using the test with actual websites! Below the two videos is a copy of the CRAAP Rubric provided by Lamar State College. The rubric walks you through the CRAAP questions and provides a scoring system to help evaluate sources. Remember - BE BRUTAL in your evaluation! You want to choose sources that will enhance your research!