Library: Literature Searching: Evaluating Websites

Checklists

There is an enormous amount of information on the Web and it varies hugely in terms of quality and trustworthiness, what clues can you use to help you evaluate whether a source may be reliable?

There are some checklists and websites below that you can use to help you:

CRAAP Test

The 'CRAAP Test' was developed by Librarian Sarah Blakesee and team at California State University, we have used it in classes and it has been well recieved by students. CRAAP stands for:

Currency
Relevance
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose
There's a very useful LibGuide from Nova Scotia Health Authority on this and a helpful checklist to use alongside your next web search.
CILIP's Information Literacy Group have also produced a checklist.

CRAAP Test, nice short video from Wintec Library

Health Website Evaluation Criteria

Bias and Health Research: useful tutorial from Cardiff University
MedlinePlus Healthy Web Surfing
Evaluating Health Information (MedlinePlus)