WCU FAQs: Research Help

1.) Many people use something called the CAARP Method to evaluate whether a source is reliable or not.

CAARP stands for:

Currency (How recent/current is the information?)

Authority (Is the author an expert on the subject?)

Accuracy (Can you verify the information as being accurate?)

Relevance (Is the information relevant to your topic?)

Purpose (Is the purpose of the source to educate, persuade, entertain, etc.?)

2.) Further information about how to determine if a source is reliable or credible can be found in the Evaluating Resources tab of the library's Research Basics guide.