Welcome to Social Studies Samurai. In this video we'll show you how to evaluate a source using the CRAAP method. Yes, I said CRAAP. The CRAAP method, also known as the CRAAP test, shows that you know how to evaluate any kind of source.
and the information in that source and the difference between primary sources and secondary sources and and how we evaluate those It also shows that you're thinking more deeply about your sources and how they apply to your research It also shows or at least ensures that your research will be relevant It's going to be accurate fact not fiction and verifiable. I can prove it because I have the evidence It also ensures academic honesty because through this process you're finding good quality information from multiple perspectives. It also shows that your research is valid. Again, you've got evidence in your sources to back up what you've done. Okay, well C means currency.
It's the timeliness. Is it accurate or is the information kind of old? The R is relevance. How important or relevant is this to your investigation? The authority, the first A, where does it come from?
Does this come from experts or just some person's opinion? The accuracy, is it reliable? Is it truthful? Is the information correct? Is it fact, not fiction?
And again, even experts might write something, but not give all the perspectives. Even experts have their own biases, so you want to check on the accuracy. And the purpose. Again, the reason that this is in existence. Why was this made?
What point of view does it give? Remember, even experts have a point of view and they make mistakes. The currency. When was it posted?
When was it published? Is it new? Has it been revised?
Has it been updated? Is the information at a date or is it current? The relevance.
Does it relate to your topic? Because that's kind of important, right? Who is the intended audience of the source?
Is this source going to be good for your intended audience? Have you looked at a variety of sources to see if this actually is the best one for that part of your assessment? The authority.
Who's the author? Who's the publisher? Who sponsored this research that made up the information that you have?
What are the credentials? Are the authors experts? Is the organization that put this information together widely respected? Or just respected from a small group of people?
Does the URL reveal anything like, you know, .edu suggests it's an educational source and more reliable. .government, it's a government source. Access to more information that the public may not have. The accuracy.
Where does this information come from? Reliable experts? Government documents?
Is the information supported by evidence? Is that evidence at the bottom of the source? Do they have a bibliography in the source you want to use?
Can you verify the accuracy of the information by checking other sources and finding the same details? Does the language or the tone, does it seem a little bit biased and one-sided? Or does it seem free of emotion and very objective?
And what is the purpose of this? Is it to educate, to inform, to entertain, to persuade, or even to start an argument? Do the authors make their intentions clear? Check the about tab in websites. What's the purpose of the organization and or the author?
Is the information fact? Is it opinion? It could be that there are biases in the source because they don't give all the perspectives.
That should set off alarm bells. Sometimes though you need just one perspective to show that another's perspective might be different. One faster, less detailed, and therefore less effective way to use the CRAAP method to evaluate a source is using check marks.
So you would record your source information, you would put your citation in there, and then you would go with these different statements under each of the criteria, and you simply put a check mark next to the ones that exist or statements that are true, and then you would tally up each section. then you would go to the bottom and you would total up the number of possible check marks and of course if you have a high number of check marks you can Think to yourself, this is probably a good source. If you have a low number of check marks, you might want to find a different source.
One possible method is the rating method or a rating system. You would record the name of your source and your citation. And for each of the different criteria, you have separate statements that you would decide on a rating for. And you would simply tally that up. at the end and do the same thing for each section and as you get down to the bottom you would get your grand total and if it's quite high then you might say to yourself yep this seems like a good source if it's quite low you might want to think about finding another source so as you use the crap test at the beginning of an investigation keep in mind you are similar to an archaeologist You want to dig, dig, dig for information so you can find the truth.
Thanks for watching the video. If you're a student or a teacher in subjects like history, geography, government, economics, check out some of the other videos. The mission of this channel is to help students build skills and teachers build their toolkit.
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