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Developmental Writing

A guide to help hone your writing skills.

Using Websites

Before using a Web site for your academic research, you must evaluate it.  Does it pass the CRAAP test?

Currency:  Is the site up-to-date and edited regularly?

Relevancy:  Who is the intended audience for this information and is the information unique?

Authority:  Who is the author and what are his or her credentials?  Is there contact information?  Is it a company/organization/university?

Accuracy:  Where does this information come from?  Are there sources listed?  Are there typos or spelling or grammar errors?

Purpose:  Why was this site created?  Is it intending to sell a product?  What is the domain name (.edu, .gov, .com, .org)?

After considering all of the above measurements, you will have a good idea whether or not a site is valuable to your academic research.