The SCRAAP test is an easy way to remember how to evaluate sources in general. SCRAAP means...
REFERENCE
Allen, M. A. (2017). Information literacy and Confirmation Bias: You can lead a person to information, but can you make him think?
Self-Awareness
Some questions to ask yourself when evaluating information to keep a sense of self-awareness:
- Do I already have an opinion or a desired result from the information I seek?
- Will my background or personal belief impact how I evaluate the information?
- Am I willing to attempt to remove my personal bias from my information evaluation process?
- Am I willing to seek, evaluate, and use information that may differ from my personal beliefs?
Currency
Some questions to ask yourself when evaluating currency of information:
- When was the information published or posted? How timely is the material?
- Has it been updated? Have there been new versions or editions since this was published?
- How important is the date to the subject material? How quickly does new research for this topic come out?
- Does new research expand upon or replace old information for this topic?
Relevance
Some questions to ask yourself when evaluating the relevance of information:
- Does the material fit with your topic? Does this source help answer your question? Does only part of it help?
- Is it covering all aspects of your topic or only parts?
- How detailed is the information? Is it too basic for your needs? Too advanced? Would you be comfortable citing it?
- Who is the intended audience? Is it written at an appropriate level?
Authority
Some questions to ask yourself when evaluating the authority of information:
- Who is the author? What can you find about them in the source itself or through a web search?
- Is the author a professor or other expert? Does the author have a degree related to the topic? Has the author written on the topic previously? Is the author drawing from her own personal experience?
- Has the information been reviewed in some way, such as by an editor or through peer review? Was it self-published or posted on a personal site? Where was it published?
- Is there contact information for the author or publisher?
Accuracy
Some questions to ask yourself when evaluating the accuracy of information:
- Is the information reliable, truthful, and correct? Is the spelling and grammar correct?
- Have you looked at more than one source? Is there supporting evidence? Do multiple reports have similar information?
- Does the author cite other sources? What does s/he cite? Are there still working reference links to sources on a website?
- For studies, experiments, and other original research, does the author explain the method s/he used to find the results? Are there flaws in the methodology or analysis?
Purpose
Some questions to ask yourself when evaluating the purpose of information:
- Why did the author publish this source? What is the author’s intent with the material? Is s/he looking to inform, teach, advocate, sell, or entertain?
- Who is the intended audience? Is this designed for general readers or academic readers?
- Was the material sponsored? What political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, personal or other perspectives does/could the author have?
- Does the information seem impartial? What perspectives are not included within this resource, especially less privileged perspectives?
