In academic writing, it is vital that you rely on credible sources to build on and reinforce your argument. The CRAAP test is a tool you can use to test a source’s credibility to ensure that the information you use is reliable.
Using the CRAAP test, which was developed in 2004 by librarians at California State University, is an information literacy skill that will serve you well as an academic writer and researcher.
The CRAAP test can be applied to evaluate a range of sources.
What is the CRAAP test?The CRAAP test is composed of five elements.
Currency: Is the source current?
Relevance: Is the source pertinent to your topic?
Authority: Does the source come from a reliable publisher and author?
Accuracy: Is the information correct? Is there evidence supporting the information?
Purpose: Why was this source published?
TipQuillBot’s tools can help you improve the credibility of your own writing and avoid mistakes. Our Citation Generator can help you cite your sources correctly, and our free Plagiarism Checker can help you avoid accidental plagiarism.
Signal phrases are used to indicate the original source of a quote or idea. Along with in-text citations, signal phrases are an important step to letting the reader know which ideas are your own and which information is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized from another source.
Signal phrase exampleAccording to theorist Julia Kristeva, “literature is the coding of our crises, of our most intimate and most serious apocalypses” (“Powers of Horror”).
Tertiary sources compile the information contained in primary and secondary sources without adding novel interpretations or ideas. Examples of tertiary sources, also known as reference works, include:
Encyclopedias
Dictionaries
Bibliographies
Databases
Tertiary sources gather information from many different types of sources. They can include lists, summaries, and indexes of primary sources, which present novel ideas or provide direct evidence and secondary sources, which offer interpretations or analyses of primary sources.
Tertiary sources are a valuable resource during the research process as they can provide background information and indicate where to look for primary and secondary sources. They can highlight key terms you should know as well as researchers whose work is especially pertinent to your topic.
That said, tertiary sources are generally not suitable for direct reference in academic writing.
Credible sources are unbiased and evidence-based materials that have reliable authors. Credible sources are key to strong academic writing.
Given the abundance of sources you can encounter, knowing how to differentiate between what is credible and what isn’t is a fundamental information literacy skill. Using credible sources means that your arguments are based on accurate, reliable information.
TipQuillBot’s tools can help improve the credibility of your own writing. Our Citation Generator can help you cite sources correctly, and our free Plagiarism Checker can help you avoid accidental plagiarism.
Information literacy covers a range of skills related to finding sources, evaluating their credibility, and using them in appropriate ways. Among other competencies, information literacy includes:
NoteInformation literacy and digital literacy are sometimes used interchangeably, but digital literacy also includes skills related to generating and sharing digital content. Information literacy denotes skills that are more related to being a strong academic researcher.
Academic research involves drawing on existing knowledge from different types of sources.
Primary sources give first-hand evidence and raw data in the form of, for example, statistics, original documents (e.g., the Declaration of Independence), or speeches. Primary research is research that you conduct yourself to collect novel data.
Secondary sources offer the interpretations, summaries, or commentary of other researchers on primary source materials. Examples of secondary sources include reviews, textbooks, and journal articles.
To provide support for your argument, it is helpful to use both primary and secondary resources.
APA is one of the most commonly used citation styles for texts in the social sciences, and it requires specific formatting of your paper and all in-text citations. APA Style in-text citations include the author name and publication year in parentheses (Name, Year).
In-text citations are necessary any time you quote, paraphrase, or summarize another author’s work in your text. The information in the in-text citation must correspond with the relevant entry on your APA reference page.
TipOur tools can help you during the research and writing process. Our Citation Generator can help you cite your sources correctly, and our Summarizer tool can help you summarize articles and other sources. Additionally, our free Plagiarism Checker can help you avoid accidental plagiarism.
Published on
April 19, 2024
by
Paige Pfeifer, BA
Revised on
December 4, 2024
A parenthetical citation is a type of in-text citation enclosed in parentheses that includes information about a source, such as the author’s name, publication date, and page number(s). Parenthetical citations come at the end of the sentence or clause that cites the source material.
Many citation styles use parenthetical citations, including APA, MLA, and Chicago style formats. Each in-text citation will correspond to an entry in the reference list, Works Cited page, or bibliography.
APA parenthetical citation exampleJungian archetypes include the persona, the shadow, the anima/animus, and the self (Carducci, 2009).
QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can automatically create in-text citations in many different styles for you. Additionally, our online Plagiarism Checker can detect accidental plagiarism.
To quote something is to state it exactly as it was originally presented, using the exact words from the original source and quotation marks (in written text). Therefore, a quote is a copy of a piece of text.
To quote something correctly, you must:
Copy the text exactly as it’s written in the source material
Enclose the text in quotation marks or format it as a block quote
Quoting in MLA exampleHarold Bloom has argued that Shakespeare “is neither Nietzschean nor Kierkegaardian, atheist nor Christian, nihilist nor humanist, and he is no more Falstaff than he is Hamlet” (37).TipQuillBot’s Summarizer tool can help you summarize articles and other sources. Our writing pad online can help you keep track of the sources you use during the research and writing process.
