My eighth graders are working on a perseverance project to tie into Hunger Games. To connect main character Katniss’ life with other lives, the students are researching a person in their field of interest and finding evidence as to how that individual persevered through difficult times and challenges. To do this, they need to use the internet—thus the CRAP Test–finding reliable sources.
This is the CRAP Test.
Currency – is the information published recently, has it been updated?
Reliability/Relevancy – Where did the information come from? Does the information relate to your topic and ideas?
Author – Who wrote the information? Is this a credible and legitimate author?
Purpose/Point of View – What is the author’s connection to the text? What was the purpose for writing?
This is a great test to teach students about credible sources. It seems that computers and technology are so accessible that it becomes an issue in academic writing. Students have the tendency to just pull information without considering the background or the amount (if any sometimes!) of factual information.
This is a great resource to use with research paper writing, taking notes–anything that involves research and taking information from another source.
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