Evaluating sources & reliability

Not all sources are equally trustworthy. The CRAAP test offers a useful checklist: Currency (how recent is it?), Relevance (does it suit your purpose?), Authority (who wrote it, and are they qualified?), Accuracy (is it supported by evidence, and can it be verified elsewhere?), and Purpose (is it trying to inform, persuade, or sell something?). A source failing several of these checks should be treated with caution.

Key terms

Currency:

How recent and up to date a source is.

Authority:

A source's author and their qualifications or expertise.

Accuracy:

Whether a source is supported by evidence and can be verified.

Questions

1. 1. The CRAAP test helps you evaluate a source's:

   • Reliability
   • Length only
   • Font size
   • Colour

2. 2. Currency in the CRAAP test refers to:

   • How recent the source is
   • How much money it costs
   • Its colour scheme
   • Its font

3. 3. Authority refers to:

   • Who wrote the source and their qualifications
   • The source's page count
   • Its publication date only
   • Its title length

4. 4. Accuracy refers to:

   • Whether the source is supported by evidence
   • The source's colour
   • Its price
   • Its length

5. 5. Purpose in the CRAAP test asks:

   • Is the source trying to inform, persuade or sell something?
   • What font is used?
   • How many pages does it have?
   • What colour is the cover?

6. 6. A source with no listed author is generally:

   • Harder to evaluate for authority
   • Automatically the most reliable
   • Always accurate
   • Irrelevant to reliability

7. 7. An outdated source on a fast-changing topic (like technology) may be:

   • Less useful due to poor currency
   • Always the best choice
   • Unrelated to currency
   • Automatically accurate

8. 8. A blog post with no sources, written anonymously in 2009, about a fast-changing scientific topic would likely be:

   • An unreliable source for current research
   • The most reliable source available
   • Automatically peer-reviewed
   • Perfectly current

9. 9. Why does "Relevance" matter when evaluating a source?

   • A source can be accurate but still not fit your specific research purpose
   • Relevance has no bearing on source quality
   • All sources are equally relevant to every topic
   • Relevance only applies to fiction

10. 10. A peer-reviewed academic journal article is generally considered to have higher:

    • Authority and accuracy
    • Purpose only
    • Font quality
    • Currency, regardless of date

11. 11. A website selling a product that also claims the product is "scientifically proven" should be evaluated carefully because:

    • Its purpose (selling) may bias its claims
    • Sales websites are always the most accurate
    • Purpose never affects reliability
    • It has no relevance to CRAAP at all

12. 12. Cross-checking a claim across multiple independent sources mainly helps verify:

    • Accuracy
    • Font style
    • Page count
    • Currency only

13. 13. A .gov or .edu website is often (though not always) considered to have relatively higher:

    • Authority, due to institutional oversight
    • Purpose, since government sites always sell things
    • Currency, regardless of when it was last updated
    • No relevant CRAAP factor at all

14. 14. Which source would likely have the strongest authority on a medical topic?

    • A peer-reviewed study by medical researchers
    • An anonymous social media post
    • A random online forum comment
    • An unsigned blog post

15. 15. Why might a source that is both current and by a qualified author still be considered unreliable?

    • It might still fail accuracy or purpose checks, e.g. by being biased or unverifiable
    • Currency and authority guarantee full reliability on their own
    • There is no way for a source to fail after passing two checks
    • Purpose is irrelevant once authority is established

16. 16. Which best explains why "Purpose" is an important part of evaluating a source, even if the facts seem accurate?

    • A persuasive or commercial purpose can still shape which facts are selected or emphasised
    • Purpose has no bearing on how facts are presented
    • Only entertainment sources have a purpose
    • Purpose and accuracy are unrelated concepts

17. 17. A student researching a historical event finds a primary source (a letter written at the time) and a modern textbook summary. Which best describes their different value?

    • The primary source offers direct evidence, while the textbook offers analysed context
    • Textbooks are always more reliable than any primary source
    • Primary sources are never useful for research
    • Both are equally useless for historical research

18. 18. Why might it be important to consider a source's intended audience when evaluating it?

    • Audience can affect the complexity, tone and possible bias of the content
    • Audience has no effect on a source's content
    • All sources are written for the same audience
    • Only children's sources have an audience

19. 19. A source citing its evidence with links to verifiable data is generally considered more reliable because:

    • Readers can independently check and confirm the claims made
    • Citations always guarantee the source is unbiased
    • Links are only ever decorative
    • Verifiability has no bearing on reliability

20. 20. Which is the best approach when a source seems to strongly support what you already believe?

    • Evaluate it just as critically as you would a source you disagree with
    • Accept it immediately without question
    • Assume all supporting sources are automatically accurate
    • Stop researching once you find agreement

21. 21. Why is evaluating source reliability considered an increasingly important skill in the digital age?

    • The volume of easily published, unverified information online has grown significantly
    • All online information is automatically verified before publishing
    • Print sources no longer require any evaluation
    • This skill has decreased in importance over time