When you select research Resources to use in your class project, you must make sure that they are credible for your purpose; you can Evaluate the credibility of the Resource using one of several popular techniques. These Evaluation techniques use acronyms that represent facets of the character of the resource to be evaluated, such as:
Relevancy; Accuracy or Verifiability; Authority; Date, Timeliness, or Currency; Purpose or Rationale; Objectivity, Point-of-View, or Bias; and Coverage or Scope.
“Information resources reflect their creators’ expertise and credibility, and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that the information need may help to determine the level of authority required.”
Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). (2021, October 13). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. ACRL Guidelines, Standards, and Frameworks. https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework#inquiry
When you select research Resources to use in your class project, you must make sure that they are credible for your purpose; you can Evaluate the credibility of the Resource using one of several popular techniques. These Evaluation techniques use acronyms that represent facets of the character of the resource to be evaluated, such as:
The best place to look for credible resources is at your Gateway Library! Explore our collections of:
And you should always feel free to contact our librarians with any questions about credibility, evaluation, and information literacy!
University of Kentucky Libraries. (2014, September 15). CIS 111 evaluating database results. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFd9eeA_VU0&t=153s
Are you using internet resources for research and want to know how to thoroughly evaluate the credibility of those sites for your purposes? While the CRAAP test and others help you to do an initial evaluation of the site, the SIFT method not only does a much deeper dive into evaluation, it also gives you the tools to locate and evaluate the original source of the information! SIFT stands for
When you have an answer to the credibility of the information that matches your purposes, you're done! There's no need to keep SIFTing through lateral sources to trace a piece of information that you have determined isn't credible!
In his ebook Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, Michael Caulfield introduced the SIFT method, though the acronym was not yet developed. A more concentrated resource for your reference is Caulfield's free online course with 5 modules (an introduction plus a lesson on each step of the SIFT method) entitled Check Please! Starter Course. Each lesson details and provides examples of the purpose, process, and techniques of the corresponding step of the method.