How To Conduct Research

How To Evaluate Sources

The CRAAP Test Worksheet

Evaluate any website for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose using this handy worksheet.

Empower

Search, select, and evaluate information sources.

Pilot

Tutorials on finding and critically evaluating information sources.

Search Engine Showdown

Learn the differences between search engines and how to use them more effectively.

Kathy Schrock's Website Evaluation

How to look at website to verify their value plus all things research-related.

Steps to Researching

Primary Sources

What are Primary Sources?

"Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are characterized by their content, regardless of their format." (Primary Sources at Yale)

Examples:

Artifacts (coins, plant specimens, fossils, furniture, tools, clothing)
Audio recordings (radio programs, podcasts)
Internet communication on e-mails and listservs
Interviews (oral histories, telephone, e-mail)
Journal articles in peer-reviewed publications
Letters
Newspapers written at the time
Original documents (birth certificate, will, marriage license, trial transcript)
Patents
Photographs
Proceedings of meetings, conferences, symposia
Records of organizations, government agencies (annual report, treaty, constitution, govenment document)
Speeches (including transcripts)
Survey research (market surveys, public opinion polls)
Video recordings (television programs)
Works of art, architecture, literature, and music (paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings, novels, poems)
Website

Finding Primary Sources:

Calisphere: The University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources.
CIESE: Science and Engineering
Digital Library School Access: Primary sources will come up in your search results when exploring databases
Finding Library Sources: Starting points for finding Library of Congress primary source documents
Internet Public Library For Teens No longer updated but the resources previously linked are still available on this site.
Library of Congress: Access the wealth of our nation's premier library
National Archives: A trove of teacher resources and primary source documents
Picturing America: US history through art and artifacts
Smithsonian Education: Teachers, families, and students can find lesson plans and resources linked to Common Core State Standards and California Standards
Smithsonian Institute: Archives materials for K-12 teachers
Web Gallery of Art: Virtual museum and searchable database of Western European art
World Digital Library: Browse by time period, topic, type of item, or institution
Conversations with History: Search for interview videos by topic, time, name, transcripts also available from UC Berkeley's archives.

Teaching With Primary Sources:

Library of Congress Teachers: Classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources.
SOAPS Primary Source Think Sheet: Tool for evaluation of primary sources using the SOAPS mnemonic: Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Speaker (see attachment below)
Teaching with Document Lesson Plans: From the National Archives
Teaching With Primary Sources: Using digital primary source materials from the Library of Congress

Secondary Sources

What are Secondary Sources?

"...[Secondary sources] are accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. They are interpretations and evaluations of primary sources." (University of Maryland: "Research Using Primary Sources").

Examples:

Bibliographies
Biographical works
Commentaries, criticisms
Dictionaries, encyclopedias
Histories
Journal articles (depending on the discipline can be primary)
Magazine and newspaper articles (this distinction varies by discipline)
Monographs, other than fiction and autobiography
Textbooks
Website (also considered primary)

Tertiary Sources

What are Tertiary Sources?

"Tertiary sources consist of information which is a distillation of collection of primary and secondary sources." (Yale University: "Comparative Sources: Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Sources").

Examples:

Almanacs
Bibliographies (also considered secondary)
Chronologies
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (also considered secondary)
Directories
Fact books
Guidebooks
Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies used to locate primary and secondary sources
Manuals
Textbooks (also considered secondary)