Students should be able to explore the role of different media in generating information and news and assess the pros and cons of each.
Exercise 89A Using reliable websites when looking for information Key Skills
Success criteria
I can explain how I know that a website is current, reliable and accurate.
I can explain the reason why a website exists.
When you are looking for information or researching a topic online, the CRAP Test is a useful way to inspect how reliable a website is. CRAP stands for Currency, Reliability, Accuracy and Purpose. The test works by answering the questions on each of the four sections.
Currency
● How recent is the information? ● How recently has it been updated?
Reliability
● Does the website have facts or is it based on somebody’s opinion?
● Is it one-sided? ● Are there sources for the facts/ quotes/statistics?
Authority/Accuracy
● Did the person who created the website/article have enough experience to be a reliable source?
● Is the publisher or sponsor reputable? ● Does the publisher have an interest in showing one viewpoint over the other side?
● Are there more advertisements than information or is an author trying to convince you to buy their book?
Purpose/Point of view
● Is the information written for educational reasons, for entertainment or for journalistic reasons?
● Is it fair or biased? ● Is the creator/author trying to sell you something?
It is also important to check the site’s web address. An .edu or ac.uk (in the UK) is from a third-level institution and is normally reliable. An Irish government website has gov.ie or, in the UK, gov.uk. Websites ending in .com or .org or .ie can belong to anyone.
People sometimes think the fi rst website they fi nd in a Google search is the most reliable source but they are often advertising or the most popular, not necessarily the most accurate.