1. Basics of
Research
with the
“mad”
professor

2. THE CRAAP TEST

3. C
Currency
No more
than seven
years is
permissible.

4. R
Relevance

5. A
Authority
This woman is an
authority on agriculture
and seed health

6. A
Accuracy

7. P
Purpose

8. Keep an eye out for
the source’s motive
Where can motive/purpose be found?

9. What is the source’s intended audience?

10. Detecting Bias
Ulterior motives Inflammatory language
Associations with biased
organizations or
organizations/companies Presents one side only
that have a vested
interest in outcome
Makes claims whose
purpose is to elevate or
demean

11. Missing
details
make for
new
meanings

12. Scholarly vs. Popular
Popular Sources = Scholarly Sources =
Magazines/Newspapers Journals

13. Look for…
Credentials, such
as a PhD. or John Q. Erudite,
university University of Indiana, Gary
affiliation Samantha S. Inquestor,
University of Transylvania
There may also be
a brief biography
of the author(s)

14. Also look for…
References
Citations
Works Cited
Bibliography
Footnotes
Endnotes

16. Limit to…
.GOV
.EDU
and
sometimes .PDF

17. USING SITE LIMITERS

18. SOME SOURCES ARE
BANNED!
Buzzle
Wiki-anything
eHow
WiseGeek
About.com
ProCon.org
Editorials or letters to the editor
OTHERS?

19. Primary Research
Surveys
Interviews
Your own experiments or
research

20. Surveys
Questions start
broad and become
more narrow.
www.surveymonkey.com

21. Don’t Lose Your Stuff!
www.diigo.com
Bookmarks
www.delicious.com
www.dropbox.com
These help you
www.zotero.com organize your sources
and notes.
www.evernote.com They also back up
notes online.