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Environmental Project Management Academy: Asking Questions and Evaluating

Evaluating with CRAAP

Evaluative criteria

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Before you read

  • What type of source is this?
    • Does it match up with your need? (background info, popular opinion, how-to manual, peer-reviewed article, etc.)
  • Who wrote this?
    • What kind of expertise/experience do they have with the topic?
    • No named author + not a reputable publisher = reason to doubt the information
  • Who sponsored/paid for this?
    • Where was this published?
    • If it’s a website is it a .com, .org, .gov, .edu
      • How might each of these types of organizations have an ‘agenda’
  • When was this written
    • Is it out of date for your purposes?
  • How is it organized?
    • What do headings/images tell you about the information?
    • Any big headlines or images that are meant to shock you or emotionally manipulate you?

 

As you read it

  • Who is the audience of this?
  • What is the message?
    • Is it meant to make you feel a certain way?
    • Is it calling you to action?
    • Is it informing you?
  • What evidence is provided by the author?
    • What type of evidence are they using?
    • How do they represent opposing ideas?
    • How are images/statistics used?

 

After you read it

  • How does the information in this source match up with what you’re reading in other sources?