The CRAAP Test
Sarah Blakeslee, a former librarian at California State University Chico State, developed the CRAAP test back in the early 2000s. CRAAP is an acronym and stands for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. The CRAAP test is used by students and others around the country as a model to evaluating information.
Currency
- How important is currency for your topic?
- When was the information published or posted?
- Is the information recent or out-of-date for your subject?
Relevance
- Does the information relate to your company, industry, or topic?
- Does what you found help answer your questions?
- Is the information at an appropriate level—not too basic, not too advanced?
Authority
- Who is the author, publisher, and/or source?
- What are their credentials?
- Does the web address tell you anything about the author, publisher, and/or source (e.g., .com, .edu, .gov)?
Accuracy
- Are sources cited?
- Could your source be biased (e.g., a company’s own website versus a government business filing)?
- Should you and can you verify the information from other sources?
Purpose
- Who is the intended audience (e.g., customers, investors, researchers, etc.)
- What is the purpose of the information? Is it to entertain, inform, persuade, promote, sell?
