HIST 3800: American Urban History

Finding sources is one thing -- evaluating whether the source is useful depends on whether the source is credible and provides facts or expert opinion appropriate for your research question.

The first step when viewing a resource is to scan it quickly and determine if it is going to be useful for your topic. Is it reliable? Is the content written at an appropriate level for you understand it? If so, set it aside to explore fully later,  If not, move on.

For quick tips to help judge the trustworthiness of all sources, check out this video from NCSU Libraries.  

There is a lot of information out there. How do you decide whether it's good information? Try using the criteria in the CRAAP Test, (created by Sarah Blakeslee of the University of California at Chico's Meriam Library) to evaluate the sources you're considering. CRAPP stands for:

Currency - The timeliness of the information.
Relevance - The importance of the information for your needs.
Authority - The source of the information.
Accuracy - The reliability truthfulness and correctness of the content.
Purpose - The reason the information exists.

For a great introduction geared specifically towards the evaluation of websites, check out this video from  the Community College of Vermont's Hartness Library!