The term 'online sources' refers to any materials you find online. An online source could be a blog post, a newspaper article published online, a journal article you have read online or an online video The Internet is a valuable source
of information, which can be added to or accessed by people across the globe. While this means that we have free access to a diverse range of sources, it also means that the information published may not always be credible or accurate, as anyone could have written it. When searching for sources to use in your assessments, you may come across materials that seem suitable. However, you should never take an online source, or an offline one, at face value. You should always
critically evaluate a source to test its credibility and accuracy before using it an assessment to ensure you are supporting your arguments with correct and credible information. A well-known strategy for testing the quality of sources is the CRAAP test. The test focuses on five key aspects that can indicate the quality of a source and includes questions to ask of a source to evaluate its quality. The timeliness of the information. The importance of the information to your context. The source of the information. The reliability, truthfulness, and correctness of the content. The reason the information exists.Evaluating online sources
What are online sources?
Why should you evaluate online sources?
How can I evaluate online (and offline) sources?
CRAAP test
Currency
Relevancy
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose
Watch this video from Georgian College Library to learn more about evaluating online resources then test your understanding of the CRAAP test.
Fake news
Fake news is made-up stuff, masterfully manipulated to look like credible journalistic reports that are easily spread online to large audiences willing to believe the fictions and spread the word. — Drobnic Holan 2016
- How to spot real and fake news (Source: MindTools)
- How to spot fake news (Source: FactCheck.org)
Optional activity
The Bad News game helps you build a pretend fake news profile while growing a pretend follower account and monitoring a credibility meter.
Play the optional Bad News game below.
Keep yourself safe online
And finally, remember, it is important to keep yourself safe online.
To see whether a website is safe to visit, you can check for security info about the site. Check to the left of the web address for the security status:
If you see a lock icon next to a website's address it means the traffic to and from the website is encrypted. It is also verified, which means the company running the site has a certificate proving they own it. Selecting the lock icon, you can see more information about the site, such as who owns it and who verified it.
If you don't see a lock icon, your connect isn't private and any traffic could be intercepted. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have developed a number of free tools for your browser, to help protect you while you're online, including:
- // Everywhere - attempts to use // for every website.
- Privacy Badger - automatically blocks invisible trackers.
For more information on how to stay safe and protect yourself online, visit the UOW Cyber Security team site.
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