 So I've been searching in articles plus for a while and I have a nice list of results that are on topic Now it's time for me to select the ones. I actually want to use in my research But how do I choose? It's important to evaluate each article closely to make sure it passes the crap test Is it current? How recently was it published? Is it recent enough for my topic? Is it reliable? What kind of information is included? Does it give evidence for what it's arguing? Is it authoritative? Who wrote it? Do they have expertise on this topic? What is its purpose? Is this fact or opinion? Is it meant to inform, entertain or sell something? Who is the intended audience? The crap test is a useful set of criteria to judge any information you come across Evaluating is vital, especially when we're out on the open web. Every piece of information should be examined Nothing gets 100% on the crap test. Nothing is completely objective, for example. A few items can take into account knowledge We just learned yesterday What passes the test for your project is a judgment you make Depending upon what kind of expertise, bias, currency and factual backup your research needs and this can change from project to project