Teaching students research skills: How to evaluate sources

In the age of AI, social media and the internet, finding information has never been easier. So, it’s never been more important to have the ability to sort fact from fiction, fake news and propaganda.

But without the ability to analyse sources, it’s hard for students to know whether the information they include in assignments is relevant, accurate and trustworthy.

Teaching your students these research skills helps them to produce work of a high academic quality, and prepares them for university life and the workplace.

How to teach research skills: Choosing sources

Before students evaluate individual sources, they should know which ones are appropriate for their needs. For example:

• Textbooks are great for understanding well-established background information about a topic.
• Recent articles in peer-reviewed journals are best for the latest research and statistics. Peer review means it’s written by experts and reviewed by other experts in their field, so students can (usually) trust the quality.
• Newspaper articles may be the best sources for politics or rapidly evolving world events, as long as students know how to recognise fake news and misinformation

Once students have established what type of sources they need, it’s time to know how to evaluate them. This can be overwhelming at first, so it’s helpful to give them some guidelines as they learn these essential research skills. Don’t forget to remind your students that a range of sources can provide a balanced view.

How to evaluate sources: 2 frameworks

Here are some helpful frameworks students can use to evaluate sources.

1. The CRAAP method

CRAAP is a widely used source-evaluation framework that involves considering a series of factors. Students can apply this framework to their sources, with these additional considerations for AI research.

• Current: How old is the publication and the information it contains? Check the dates of publication and any later updates. Are they up-to-date enough for their needs? In fields where things change quickly, like science or medicine, sources over two years old may already be out of date. Research retrieved with an AI search is only based on the AI’s dataset, not everything online, so may not include the latest information.
• Relevance: Does the information relate to the topic and purpose? Is it appropriate for the audience? For example, does it tell them what they want to know? Is it the right level for them to understand - not too simple, or too complex?
• Authority: Who is the author, publisher or sponsor? What makes them an expert on the topic or a trustworthy source? What are their qualifications, experience and affiliations? Who else trusts them, for example, by citing them in other sources?
• Accuracy: Where does the information come from, and how do they know it's correct? Is it supported by evidence, and has it been reviewed or independently verified? Students should cross-check it against other sources to see if they agree. This is especially important when evaluating AI research, as AI can hallucinate false references, and even genuine citations may not contain the information AI says they do. So, students should always check the sources to make sure.
• Purpose: Why was the content created? It is intended to educate, inform, convince, sell or entertain? Is that intention clearly stated or obvious? Is the content fact, opinion or propaganda? If there’s a point of view, is it objective and impartial or biased?

Classroom activity

To teach the CRAAP method, put students into pairs and give each pair the same two sources on the same topic -  one strong, one weak/biased. Students read and investigate the sources and give a score from 1-5 for each factor - Current, Relevant, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose - with 1 being the lowest.

Bring the class back together to share their verdicts and reasoning. Discuss as a class which source scored highest/lowest and why.

2. The SIFT method

SIFT was developed specifically to help people evaluate online content, news and social media. Here’s how students can apply it:

• Stop: Before reacting to or sharing information, ask your students to stop and consider how this information makes them feel. Many headlines or social media content are designed to get people to click, which they achieve by triggering a strong emotional response. Ask your students to think about what they already know about the topic. Does this information agree with that? Does it sound believable? If not, they should follow the next three steps in this sequence before sharing or relying on it. 
• Investigate the source: Who produced this, how and why? What’s their reputation, expertise and purpose? Are they biased in any way? This context is critical to judge whether something is reliable or not.
• Find better coverage: As well as fact-checking the specific claim, students should research what else has been published on the topic. It’s a good idea to consider a range of sources and look for expert voices to see if they agree with the information.
• Trace: Ask students to follow the thread linking claims, quotes and images to their original source and context. This gives them the opportunity to assess whether the original information supports the claims in the new source? Has it been fairly and fully represented, or has some information been changed or taken out of context?

Classroom activity

To practise the SIFT method in class, give pairs of students some claims or articles circulating online (social post, news clip, meme with a statistic). Include at least one that’s false or misleading.

Ask students to give their opinions of the material before evaluating it using the SIFT framework. After using the framework, they should decide whether they trust it, trust it with caveats or distrust it. If they changed their original opinion, ask them to say why.

Discuss as a class which step felt most useful or revealed the most surprising findings.

Teaching research skills: Set your students up for the future

The internet and AI have democratised access to information, but they’ve also made it harder to evaluate the accuracy of that information. Use these two frameworks – CRAAP and SIFT – to show them how to choose the right sources for the task they’re doing and assess whether information is reliable. Teaching your students research skills sets them up for future academic and career success.

Further reading

Read Essential research skills for final year students and Teaching the SLICE research method in the classroom.