St. David CSS Learning Commons: Citation Tools & Research Tips

Evaluation Criteria: The CRAAP Test

Currency: The timeliness of the information. 

• When was the information published or posted? 
• Has the information been revised or updated? 
• Does your topic require current information, or will older sources work as well?
• Are the website links functional? 

Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs. 

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience? 
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)? 
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable citing this source in your research paper? 

Authority: The source of the information. 

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor? 
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations? 
• Is the author qualified to write on the topic? 
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or email address?
• Does the website URL reveal anything about the author or source? examples: .com .edu .gov .org .net 

Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.

• Where does the information come from? 
• Is the information supported by evidence? 
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed? 
• Can you verify any of the information in another source or from personal knowledge? 
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and free of emotion? 
• Are there spelling, grammar or typographical errors? 

Purpose: The reason the information exists. 

• What is the purpose of the information? Is it to inform, teach, sell, entertain or persuade? 
• Do the authors/sponsors make their intentions or purpose clear? 
• Is the information fact, opinion or propaganda? 
• Does the point of view appear objective and impartial? 
• Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?

Meriam Library California State University, Chico

Record your citations as you find them

Cite your sources using a Citation Tool

Databases and eBooks provided by WCDSB include Citation Tools

To get more information, ask the librarian or go to http://www.plagiarism.org/

To begin your research, you need to choose a topic, gather background information and generate keywords for your topic.A good way to keep this all organized is using a Keyword Table. 

How to Generate a Keywords Table:

1. Choose your topic by writing a sentence that fully describes what you want to research. Try to keep it to one sentence. For example "What are the ethical issues in stem cell research" If your topic is comparing how several religions view the issue, you will have to do several searches to gather information on that topic in relation to each religion.
2. Gather back ground information to generate a list of related terms.Look for background information in the textbook, reference books (dictionaries, encyclopedias), online databases (Britannica, Gale Virtual Reference Library), websites with suffixes such as .org, .edu, .net. .gov
3. ​List your key concepts by identifying 2-4 key concepts from your research topic. Each of your key concepts should be 1-2 words.
4. Generate at least 3 related keywords for each of your key concepts. Consider:
   • alternative spellings - color, colour
   • abbreviations and acronyms - U.N., United Nations
   • singular vs plural form - child, children or woman, women
   • synonyms - ethical, honest honorable (honourable), humane
   • broader and more specific terms -  stem cell,  blood cells,nerve cells, histology

How to Use your Keyword Table

• Use the keywords you identified in your table to search the library databases Gale PowerSearch 
• Use BOOLEAN operator to combine keywords in your search  AND (to decrease the number of results) and OR (to increase the number of results)