Remember the CRAAP test from your first-year Inquiry class?
C - Currency: How recent was a source created/researched? Do you need items from a particular time period?
R - Relevance: Does the information in the source meet your needs? Is it the right type of source for your assignment?
A - Authority: What are the author’s credentials and expertise related to the topic?
A - Accuracy:
P - Purpose: What is the intent of the author or sponsoring organization?
Relevance
There may be thousands of articles that are from the correct time period, that are accurate, written with authority, and published by reputable journals with an academic purpose - but that doesn't mean they are relevant to your topic or your assignment.
Relevance might be the most tricky part of the CRAAP test. It really depends on your specific assignment, topic, and research question.
Here are some things to consider:
When in doubt, review your sources with your professor.
Reading and understanding academic sources can be one of the most challenging parts of the research process. Even if you're reading popular or general sources, close reading requires critical thinking and analysis. This is even more challenging when you are reading in a second language!
When you're reading, you'll want to try to understand the source on multiple levels.
This can be challenging, especially if you're trying to work on all three levels at once.
Ideally, you'll read a source three times, focusing on each element respectively in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd read-throughs. This takes time, so it is best to start your research early.
Review the Understanding Your Source guide for more information on how to master the three levels of understanding.
There are many ways to take notes - and taking notes is very important - but here is one suggested format you can use.
A downloadable copy of the Word Template for this note format is provided below. You can hand-write your notes, but typing them into the template will make it easy to copy and paste your quotes when you need them later on.
Reading Notes
Before you read
Citation of source