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By RefME Guest Blogger
Kendra Perkins is the Coordinator for the Shanghai Librarian Network, the What is the CRAAP Test & How can I use it? International Librarian Network Ambassador for China

and Head Librarian at YK Pao Secondary School in China. For more inspiration, check out her So, what does it mean? .
It's common knowledge that that the Internet can bea powerful source of information however, on the flipside, it can also be a powerful unreliable source of information. Students and fellow researchers nowadays need to learn how to use critical thinking skills to evaluate resources to ensure that they are selecting trustworthy data. The CRAAP test [1] is one way to easily achieve this.

There are many ways to evaluate sources, but (for obvious reasons) the CRAAP test is the easiest to remember. University students will remember its funny name so hopefully this is an approach that resonates as each letter's meaning is highly relevant.

Currency - Is the information you want to use still relevant?

One may assume that any information published by well-known authors, such as Ivy league institutions e.g. Harvard University, MIT, or the University of California at Berkeley is correct but it is equally important to check when it was published.

Take this example:

Remember when Pluto was a planet? What is it now? [2]

Relevance - Is the information you've discovered about what you are researching?

There are so many aspects that can be studied about one topic. You want to make sure that you are keeping your focus on exactly what your research question is asking for.

If you are researching farming, you could look at the economics, the agriculture, the biology, the genetics, the chemistry, the history, the geography, the sociology, or even the fashion side of farming.

Are you picking a source that is relevant to what you are trying to answer?

Authority - Who is telling you this information?

Reputable newspapers, like The New York Times, are usually reliable sources, but not always!

Opinion pieces, for example, are just that - opinions [3]. Most major magazines and newspapers have these, and they aren't necessarily backed up by facts, or research. Be careful that what they are stating can be verified by other sources that have done studies to confirm these findings.

Consider who is responsible for the content, not just who the source of the information is.

Accuracy - Do you think the information is correct?

You need to take a minute to evaluate what you are reading. Even if the author sounds convincing and the information is published in a book, does it seem plausible?

For example:

The published book Zetetic Astronomy: Earth not a Globe! An Experimental Inquiry into the True Figure of the Earth: Proving it a Plane, without Axial or Orbital Motion and the Only Material World in the Universe![4] argues that the Earth is not rotating, but that it is on a plane (flat) and brings forth multiple arguments that justify this reasoning. There are websites that are dedicated to publishing materials and writing posts arguing that the Earth is flat [5]. It all sounds very convincing, but science have proven this to be untrue. The world is indeed not flat. Be careful not to get sucked into false claims! Read contradictory evidence to ensure that your sources are correct.

Purpose - Why was this information created?

This can be a tricky one to investigate, but it is important to check who is responsible for this information. Do they have another motive to come to a particular conclusion?
In Closing...
What is a native ad? This could appear to be a research article, but in fact the author is being paid, or is in some way affiliated with the corporation that produces that product [6]. They will have a huge bias in the information that they put out because they want you to support whatever it is they are promoting.

There are so many examples of this, but here is one example to show you what I mean:
CRAAP Resources for Educators
Articles are sometimes written to promote specific products and are paid to do so. In this example Forbes magazine is promoting financial institutions, like Fidelity Investments by writing convincing articles about these products that sound like they are just opinion pieces.

Today, research is published and accessed at a much faster pace than ever before. The sheer volume of content available, and the pressure for publishers, websites and writers to push out information at increasing rates is on the rise. This leads to a massive amount of unreliable articles and books that students and researchers need to wade through. Educators can use this CRAAP test as a tool to help students identify reliable sources and then accurately and easily reference them.

This blog could be filled with inaccurate information, but I have referenced all of my sources using RefME, so you can easily fact check the content and decide for yourself if you think it would pass the CRAAP test.

Some of my favourite handouts, activity ideas, and a video that could all be used in your next lesson:

Evaluating Websites Activity Handout - University of Arizona Libraries
Bibliography
Searching Tips + Evaluating Information: Applying the CRAAP Test Handout - University of Arizona Libraries

Websites not to Use for Research Handout - Central Texas College

Video Explaining The CRAAP Test - DCAD Library

1. 'CRAAP Method of Resource Evaluation - MMA Media Resource Center'. 2015. Accessed March 6, 2016.

2. 'What Is Pluto?'. May 21, 2015. Accessed March 6, 2016.

3. The Opinion Pages. The New York Times. March 4, 2016.

4. Parallax. Zetetitc Astronomy. Earth Not a Globe! An Experimental Inquiry into the True Figure of the Earth: Proving it a Plane without Axial or Orbital Motion and the Only Material World in the Universe! London, 1865. Accessed March 6, 2016.

5. The Flat Earth Society. 'Flat Earth Library - Web Articles'. Accessed March 6, 2016.

6. Shewan, Dan. 'Native Advertising Examples: 5 of the Best (and Worst)'. July 7, 2014. Accessed March 6, 2016.

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The CRAAP Test: An Easy & Fun Way to Evaluate Research Sources

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By RefME Guest Blogger Kendra Perkins is the Coordinator for the Shanghai Librarian Network, the What is the CRAAP Test & How can I use it? International Librarian Network Ambassador for China and Head Librarian at YK Pao Secondary School in China. For more inspiration, check out her So, what does it mean?

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How to Make References In Microsoft Word:

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How to Make References In Microsoft Word:

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From Mrs. Leith's instructions!

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JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

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Taylor and Francis Online Journal Database

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Taylor and Francis Online Journal Database

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https://www.tandfonline.com/

You'll need to sign up.

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JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

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The State Library of New South Wales is a large reference and research library open to the public. It is the oldest library in Australia, being the first library established in New South Wales.

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The Drop Bear legend tells of a large, arboreal, predatory marsupial related to the Koala that 'drops' on its prey.

Identification

Around the size of a leopard or very large dog with coarse orange fur with some darker mottled patterning (as seen in most Koalas). The creature is told as a heavily built animal with powerful forearms for climbing and holding on to prey. It lacks canines, using broad powerful premolars as biting tools instead.

Habitat

Closed canopy forest as well as open woodland on the margins of dense forest. Never encountered near roads or human habitation.

Distribution

Drop Bears can be found in the densely forested regions of the Great Dividing Range in South-eastern Australia. However there are also some reports of them from South-east South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island.

Feeding and diet

Stories of kill sites and examination of scats suggest mainly medium to large species of mammal make a substantial proportion of the animal's diet. Often, prey such as macropods are larger than the Drop Bear itself.

Drop Bears supposedly hunt by ambushing ground dwelling animals from above, waiting up to as much as four hours to make a surprise kill. Once prey is within view, the Drop Bear will drop as much as eight metres to pounce on top of the unsuspecting victim. The initial impact often stuns the prey, allowing it to be bitten on the neck and quickly subdued.

If the prey is small enough Drop Bears will haul it back up the tree to feed without harassment from other predators.

Danger to humans

The urban legend focuses on bush walkers being 'dropped on' by drop bears, resulting in injury including mainly lacerations and occasionally bites. Most attacks are considered accidental and there are no stories of incidents being fatal.

There are some suggested folk remedies that are said to act as a repellent to Drop Bears, these include having forks in the hair or Vegemite or toothpaste spread behind the ears. There is no evidence to suggest that any such repellents work.

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This urban legend focuses on bush walkers having been known to be 'dropped on' by drop bears, resulting in injury including mainly lacerations and occasionally bites.

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Then check out the source site: https://zapatopi.net/

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Help Save The ENDANGERED

From EXTINCTION!

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

Rare photo of the elusive tree octopus
(Enhanced from cropped telephoto)

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus ( Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America. Their habitat lies on the Eastern side of the Olympic mountain range, adjacent to Hood Canal. These solitary cephalopods reach an average size (measured from arm-tip to mantle-tip,) of 30-33 cm. Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment. Because of the moistness of the rainforests and specialized skin adaptations, they are able to keep from becoming desiccated for prolonged periods of time, but given the chance they would prefer resting in pooled water.

An intelligent and inquisitive being (it has the largest brain-to-body ratio for any mollusk), the tree octopus explores its arboreal world by both touch and sight. Adaptations its ancestors originally evolved in the three dimensional environment of the sea have been put to good use in the spatially complex maze of the coniferous Olympic rainforests. The challenges and richness of this environment (and the intimate way in which it interacts with it,) may account for the tree octopus's advanced behavioral development. (Some evolutionary theorists suppose that "arboreal adaptation" is what laid the groundwork in primates for the evolution of the human mind.)

Reaching out with one of her eight arms, each covered in sensitive suckers, a tree octopus might grab a branch to pull herself along in a form of locomotion called tentaculation; or she might be preparing to strike at an insect or small vertebrate, such as a frog or rodent, or steal an egg from a bird's nest; or she might even be examining some object that caught her fancy, instinctively desiring to manipulate it with her dexterous limbs (really deserving the title "sensory organs" more than mere "limbs",) in order to better know it.

Map of estimated tree octopus maximum range, including spawning waters

Tree octopuses have eyesight comparable to humans. Besides allowing them to see their prey and environment, it helps them in inter-octopus relations. Although they are not social animals like us, they display to one-another their emotions through their ability to change the color of their skin: red indicates anger, white fear, while they normally maintain a mottled brown tone to blend in with the background.

The reproductive cycle of the tree octopus is still linked to its roots in the waters of the Puget Sound from where it is thought to have originated. Every year, in Spring, tree octopuses leave their homes in the Olympic National Forest and migrate towards the shore and, eventually, their spawning grounds in Hood Canal. There, they congregate (the only real social time in their lives,) and find mates. After the male has deposited his sperm, he returns to the forests, leaving the female to find an aquatic lair in which to attach her strands of egg-clusters. The female will guard and care for her eggs until they hatch, refusing even to eat, and usually dying from her selflessness. The young will spend the first month or so floating through Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, and as far as North Puget Sound before eventually moving out of the water and beginning their adult lives.

Why It's Endangered

Route 101, separating the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula from Hood Canal

Although the tree octopus is not officially listed on the Endangered Species List, we feel that it should be added since its numbers are at a critically low level for its breeding needs. The reasons for this dire situation include: decimation of habitat by logging and suburban encroachment; building of roads that cut off access to the water which it needs for spawning; predation by foreign species such as house cats; and booming populations of its natural predators, including the bald eagle and sasquatch. What few that make it to the Canal are further hampered in their reproduction by the growing problem of pollution from farming and residential run-off. Unless immediate action is taken to protect this species and its habitat, the Pacific Northwest tree octopus will be but a memory.

The possibility of Pacific Northwest tree octopus extinction is not an unwarranted fear. Other tree octopus species-including the Douglas octopus and the red-ringed madrona sucker-were once abundant throughout the Cascadia region, but have since gone extinct because of threats similar to those faced by paxarbolis, as well as overharvesting by the now-illegal tree octopus trade.

Tree Octopus hat from 1923

The history of the tree octopus trade is a sad one. Their voracious appetite for bird plumes having exhausted all the worthy species of that family, the fashionistas moved on to cephalopodic accoutrements during the early 20th Century. Tree octopuses became prized by the fashion industry as ornamental decorations for hats, leading greedy trappers to wipe out whole populations to feed the vanity of the fashionable rich. While fortunately this practice has been outlawed, its effects still reverberate today as these millinery deprivations brought tree octopus numbers below the critical point where even minor environmental change could cause disaster.

While efforts were made in the past to preserve remaining tree octopus habitat, these were met with resistance by the timber industry, which has traditionally viewed the tree octopus as a nuisance, both because the octopuses favor the valuable, moss-shrouded trees of old growth forests-pitting conservation needs against lucrative sources of lumber-and because octopuses hiding among felled trees often gummed up sawmills and stained pulp vats with their ink.

Traveling sideshow exhibits, such as this one by Glen "Bones" Hartzell from 1942, demonized tree octopuses to the ignorant masses
(Click to enlarge)

These nuisances led many loggers to regard tree octopuses as bad luck, resulting in the pointless killing of octopuses on sight at logging camps in a misguided attempt at eradicating the troublesome species. Anti-octopus sentiment was so strong among loggers that some even began to fear that the octopuses were prone to attacking humans.

These fears were fueled in no small part by gratuitous stories involving tree octopuses harassing lumberjacks and distressing damsels in Northwestern-themed pulp magazines of the 1930-40s and variously "nipping", "entangling", or "suckering the flesh" of the heroes of men's action magazines of the 1950-60s. (The magazine publishers depended on cheap paper made from wood pulp and were glad to contribute to the anti-octopus propaganda campaign of the timber industry.)

To this day, misunderstanding and fear of these gentle creatures can still be found among many old timers, although education campaigns-and special octopus-separators installed at sawmills-have largely halted the practice of tree octopus eradication.

How You Can Help

More Tree Octopus Information

Posters motivate the citizenry to action! Post them!

Tree Octopus FAQs - Frequently asked questions, now with answers.

Tree Octopus Sightings - Includes photos of and behavioral research on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and other tree octopus species.

Tree Octopus In The Media - appearances of tree octopuses, both real and fictional, in the media and popular culture.

Research On Other Tree Octopus Species:

The author of this article and its subsections is Lyle Zapato.
This site is not associated with any school or educational organization,
other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society.
Not to be confused with the Pacific Northwest Octopus Tree.

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Information about the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and what you can do to save it.

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Mr Evans' DIGGING DEEPER - ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS Padlet :  

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Mr Evans' DIGGING DEEPER - ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS Padlet :  

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An older site where I collated my resources. Hoping to start using it again!

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EXAMPLES OF BAD WEBSITES - What things do look good in these websites? What hints do you have that these are NOT serious resources to use? How can we tell they are no good? Example 1 -The "Help Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" website: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ Example