Blog Post #3: The C.R.A.P. Test

For this blog post, I will be performing the C.R.A.P. Test on two of the three resources I decided to use in the last blog post, and then comparing them to see which one is more reliable. The two resources I selected to perform the C.R.A.P. Test on are World Cat and ProQuest Learning Literature. Yet first, before doing anything, I will define what the acronym of C.R.A.P. stands for.

C: Currency

-Is it up to date?

-When was the source last updated?

R: Reliability

-Is the source being fair?

-Are the sources used listed?

-Is it a reputable source?

A: Authority

-Does the author know what they are talking about?

-Does the author have a good reputation?

-Where was the source published?

-Was the source peer edited?

P: Point of View

-Is it fact or opinion based?

-Is the source neutral or biased?

Now, the first resource I have decided to perform the C.R.A.P. Test on is ProQuest Learning Literature. First up is C: currency. ProQuest Learning Literature was last updated in 2017 which is this year. This makes ProQuest Learning Literature a very current, up-to-date source.

Next is R: reliability. ProQuest Learning Literature is a database, meaning it was timely vetted for reliability (looked in to) by people who don't get paid if they do a bad job (meaning to get a good salary they have to know what they are doing, and do a good job of it) and leaves every article useful and true with just the facts. This makes ProQuest Learning Literature quite a reliable source to use. Third is A: Authority. ProQuest Learning Literature can be accessed through the King County Library System which is quite well known and has a good reputation when it comes to information and research. The fact that ProQuest Learning Literature is part of the collection of databases on the King County Library System shows that it as well must have a good reputation and authority when it comes to information and research since it must have had to be one of the best databases to be selected by a well known Library System as a database they recommend using. Finally is P: Point of view. ProQuest Learning Literature is a database that contains full-text literary works, criticism, essays, author biographies, reviews, and interviews. Though ProQuest Learning Literature contains criticism and interviews which may contain information for only one side of an argument, this database allows you to choose for which side of the argument you want the information on, either against or for. So, if ProQuest Learning Literature gives information for both sides of an argument, that ultimately does not make the database, ProQuest Learning Literature, biased.

The second source I have decided to perform the C.R.A.P. Test on is World Cat. First is C: currency. World Cat was recently updated only several hours ago meaning everything is quite up to date. I can infer that people update World Cat everyday with new resources and information since this databases incorporates many sources, catalogs, and libraries from around the globe. This makes World Cat a very current source. Next is R: reliability. World Cat is also a database, meaning it was also timely vetted for reliability (looked in to) by people who don't get paid if they do a bad job (meaning to get a good salary they have to know what they are doing, and do a good job of it) and leaves every article useful and true with just the facts. This makes World Cat also quite a reliable source to use. Third is A: Authority. World Cat is a database that draws its information from very well known libraries as well as from the libraries of colleges and schools with high and good reputations like University of Washington Libraries and UC Berkeley Libraries. This shows that World Cat does indeed have authority since its sources of information (libraries) have very high reputations and statuses. Finally is P: Point of view. World Cat is a database that is made up of a collection of combined catalogs of hundreds of libraries around the world. This means that World Cat does not contain any bias or arguments for one side of an opinion or another, instead it just contains thousands of sources and catalogs that contain facts. These facts can then be used for and argument, but the facts themselves contain no opinion or bias.

In conclusion, after performing the C.R.A.P. Test on both of the resources, I believe that World Cat and ProQuest Learning Literature are both equally reliable. The evidence above shows that both World Cat and ProQuest Learning Literature are very current, quite reliable, and use information from sources with much authority. For Point of view, while World Cat has a neutral point of view, ProQuest Learning Literature has information supporting both sides of the point of view. Either way, this means that both World Cat and ProQuest Learning Literature are unbiased. This shows that both World Cat and ProQuest Learning Literature are equally reliable, since they both met all the requirements to pass the C.R.A.P. Test. So, needless to say, I will be able to use both sources in my research. With that, I end this post.