School of Nursing LibGuide: Information Literacy

CRAAP is an acronym for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. Use the CRAAP Test to evaluate all your sources of information, including websites, magazine articles, news, and research articles.

Currency: the timeliness of the information

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the information current or out-of date for your topic?

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?
• Is this source appropriate for a research paper?

Authority: the source of the information

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or e-mail address?
• Do you notice any conflicts of interest or are any conflicts of interest stated?
• Do all the links work?

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

• Where does the information come from?
• Is the information supported by evidence?
• Is the information peer-reviewed?
• Does the language or tone seem biased and free of emotion?
• Are there spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors?

Purpose: the reason the information exists

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

Discusses common nursing databases, the definition of "research literature", the importance of using vetted research databases like CINAHL and PubMed instead of unvetted resources like Google, and predatory journals.

Discusses the levels of evidence in research literature, primary versus secondary sources, systematic review versus literature reviews, and quantitative versus qualitative literature.