It is easy to find a lot of information about a lot of things on the internet, but it isn't always trustworthy or suited to completing a research paper. It is important to critically evaluate all the information you find before you decide to use it.
The TRAAP Test below is a list of questions that you can ask yourself to help you determine if information is reliable and appropriate for your assignments.
Acknowledgement
The TRAAP Test is modified from The CRAAP Test, created by Sarah Blakeslee and the librarians at California State University's Meriam Library in 2004.
These are questions you can ask yourself to determine if information is reliable and appropriate for your assignments.
The Information Cycle is the progression of media coverage of a newsworthy event. It refers to how information is produced and distributed over time. Understanding the Information Cycle will help you determine what types of sources may be available for your research topic. Information comes from different sources including:
Social media (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.)
Mainstream Media (TV news, Internet news, etc)
Popular Magazines
Scholarly Journals
Books
When researching a topic, you need to investigate a variety of sources to gather enough information.
When you quote or paraphrase the idea of another person in your research paper, you must provide a proper citation.
Proper citations:
If you use other people's ideas without properly giving them credit, you are committing plagiarism, which is a serious NSU honor code violation as well as a federal crime.
Citation Styles:
The format of a proper citation depends upon the citation style being used. Most commonly, students are required to use APA or MLA.
For consistency, both of these styles provide specific standards for: