Instructional and Educational VHS Tapes
CRAAP Test — evaluates Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose of this resource. Scores are auto-calculated from metadata signals.
SIFT Method — a lateral reading approach recommended by academic librarians. Instead of evaluating a source's own claims, SIFT prompts you to verify by checking what others say about the source.
ACRL Framework Alignment
The six ACRL threshold concepts are embedded below. These are the core information literacy competencies for higher education.
Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
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.
- Check if the author or organization is recognized in the field
- Consider whether the publisher or platform has a reputation for quality
- Look up the author's institutional affiliation
- Check if the work is peer-reviewed
- Verify the publisher's reputation
Information Has Value
Information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world.
- Check the Creative Commons license type
- Note that open access does not mean free to reuse without attribution
- Consider the ethical use of this source in your own work
Information Creation as a Process
Information in any format is produced to convey a message and is shared via a selected delivery method. The iterative processes of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information vary, and the resulting product reflects these differences.
- Check if it's a preprint, postprint, or published version
- See if the work has been updated or revised
- Look for peer-review status or editorial oversight
Scholarship as Conversation
Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations.
- Check how many times this work has been cited
- See what other works this source references
- Look for responses, critiques, or follow-up studies
- Search for related works that confirm or challenge these findings
- Compare conclusions across multiple sources
- Look for review articles that synthesize research
Searching as Strategic Exploration
Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requiring the evaluation of a range of information sources and the mental flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding develops.
- Revisit your research question
- Consider trying different search terms
- Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to refine