The CRAAP Test was developed by Sarah Blakeslee and a team of librarians at California State University. The test is a guide to determining if a source is considered reliable and trustworthy enough to use in your research. Watch the video above for a full explanation, and ask yourself these questions when deciding whether or not to use a particular source in your research:
C - Is it current? Was this published recently, or is it too dated?
R - Is it relevant? Does this actually relate to your topic, or does it just reference something in common with your topic?
A - What authority does the creator have? Is this person a recognized expert in their field, or just someone publishing with little to no education or experience on the topic?
A - Is it accurate? Does it seem like this source has been reviewed for errors, or do you see suspicious spelling and grammar mistakes?
P - What is the purpose? Is this source a straightforward presentation of facts? Or does it seem like the author wants to sell you something or cause you to think a certain way about something without evidence to back their claims?
Citing your sources ensures that the authors who created the books, articles, and other media used in your research receive the credit that they deserve for their work. Whenever you use anyone else's work within your work, you must provide a citation to the original source you are referencing. That means any time you directly quote, paraphrase, or summarize someone else's work, you must cite it in the style required by your instructor.
Citations can be time-consuming, but they don't have to be. We recommend using a citation generator to create your initial citation, and then double checking it against a style guide.
This is one example of a citation generator. There are many other free ones online, such as Citation Machine or Cite Fast.
If you are relying heavily on sources from GALILEO, you will find that in most cases, you can generate a citation within GALILEO itself, if you look to the toolbar at the top of an article's page and find the citation tool (which looks like a quotation mark).
Once you select the citation tool, you will see this window:
From the "select style" dropdown, you can choose from a wide array of styles, including APA, MLA, and Chicago among others. Below that in the light gray box, you'll see the generated citation, which you can then copy and paste into your reference or works cited. You can also use the other built in tools to export in other ways.
Though most citation generators do a pretty good job, sometimes they still make errors. You will want to check your generated citations against a style guide. For MLA and APA styles, the library recommends you visit Purdue University's OWL, or Online Writing Lab, where they have posted comprehensive guides to both styles.
You may also consult with a physical copy of your chosen style guide. You may have been asked to buy one for class, or you can also check the library's online catalog to see if we have a copy available for you to borrow.
Publication Manual (OFFICIAL) 7th Edition of the American Psychological Association by 
MLA Handbook by
The Modern Language Association, the authority on research and writing, takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, the official guide to MLA format. Works are published today in a dizzying variety of ways: a novel, for example, may be read in print, online, or as an e-book--or perhaps listened to as an audiobook. Writers of research papers routinely need to know how to cite works on Web sites, videos on platforms like YouTube, interviews and other works created by multiple authors, journal articles contained in databases, online images, posts on social media sites, song lyrics, and more. Instead of providing separate instructions for each format, the MLA's unique, innovative approach recommends one set of guidelines that writers can apply to any type of source. This groundbreaking edition of the MLA's best-selling handbook is short and designed for easy use. It guides writers through the principles behind evaluating sources for their research and thus focuses on the key skills of information and digital literacy. It then shows writers how to cite sources in their writing, offering detailed guidance on in-text citations, quoting and paraphrasing, avoiding plagiarism, and more. Intended for students, teachers, librarians, and advanced scholars, the handbook is an indispensable resource in composition, communication, literature, language arts, film, media studies, digital humanities, and related fields.