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1. Search thoroughly: The first item on your results list is there because it's popular, not because it's the best one for you. 2. Evaluate thoroughly: Is it accurate? Is it reliable? Use the evaluation process to feel confident about the websites you use. 3. Cite correctly: Use the citation examples to make certain you're catching the important details. |
Is it CRAAP?* Evaluating Online Resources (PDF):
Although evaluation is part of Step 3, gathering web information means you are stepping out of the library's recommended resources to wade through millions of web sites. Because of that, we suggest you start honing a few evaluation techniques at this point and consider using this guide.
"When you search the Web, you’re going to find a lot of information . . . but is it accurate and reliable? You will have to determine this for yourself, and the CRAAP Test can help. The CRAAP Test is a list of questions you can ask yourself in order to determine if the information on a web site is reliable. Please keep in mind that the following list of questions is not static nor is it complete. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need. So, what are you waiting for?"
* This CRAAP Test created by Meriam Library at California State University, Chico
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Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the abstracts or full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Google Scholar includes peer-reviewed online academic journals and books, conference papers, theses and dissertations, preprints, abstracts, technical reports, case law, and other scholarly literature. |
"Find Full Text at Viterbo" links display next to resources available at Viterbo. On-campus patrons automatically see these links no matter how they access Google Scholar, but off-campus patrons must access through the link on the Databases page to enable this feature. If you find something on the web that is not available in full-text, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan to see if we can obtain it from another library.
For more advanced Google searching tips, visit Google's Advanced Search tips page or watch this video about Google Scholar, produced by Google.
Wikipedia is an open website that anyone can add to or edit. That means the information is not always accurate or trustworthy. While y
ou should never cite Wikipedia in an academic assignment, it can still be useful. You can use the website to get a summary or background information on a topic. Wikipedia also tries to include citations to other sources. These are located at the bottom of each page. If you want to use information you found in Wikipedia, it’s important to see where the information originated. You can read those sources and sometimes be able to use them in your paper.
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2d. Websites may contain great information, but it can be difficult to weed out the good information from the bad. Remember these three key ideas, and you'll steer clear of questionable resources.