Although the CRAAP Test has some value and is commonly used, a Stanford study compared the results of critical web evaluation searches between students and faculty using the CRAAP test and professional fact checkers. The fact-checkers won!
While the students and faculty using the CRAAP did a thorough examination of the website, the “fact-checkers…almost immediately began an independent verification process, a strategy the researchers dubbed “lateral reading”—opening multiple tabs, and searching for independent information on the publishing organization, funding sources, and other factors that might indicate the reliability and perspective of the site and its authors or sponsors.” (Fielding, 2019)
Fielding, J. (2019). Rethinking CRAAP: Getting students thinking like fact-checkers in evaluating web sources. College & Research Libraries
News, 80(11), 620. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.80.11.620
Lateral reading is a strategy that asks the reader to evaluate and verify information as you are reading it. Think of it as "going wide": opening new internet tabs to check the veracity of claims in the first tab through a variety of authoritative information evaluation websites. These new tabs could include searches for:
To accomplish a thorough 'read' of a piece of information, try the four-move SIFT Method for lateral reading.
STOP | INVESTIGATE |
Ask yourself whether you know and trust the website or source of the information. If you don't, use the other moves to get a sense of what you're looking at. Don't read it or share it until you know what it is. | Know what you are reading before you read it. Find out who is writing what you're reading and if they are an expert in that field. |
FIND | TRACE |
If you're reading a claim, find trusted coverage from other sources that can verify the same information. Scan multiple other sources and find out if there is agreement on the claim being made. | Is there any missing context from what you're reading? Look for a trace of the original source to see the original context. Is the claim being accurately represented? |
Source: Check, Please! Starter Course
Sources
Check, please! Starter course.
Currency: the timeliness of the information
Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs
Authority: the source of the information
Accuracy: the reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content, and
Purpose: the reason the information exists
The CRAAP test was developed by librarians at CSU Chico. https://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf