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Business In the News

The best news sources ASU Library has to offer! This guide is intended for WPC 101 students, faculty, and staff

Evaluating News Sources: How to Tell if an Article is Trustworthy?

1. Use Research Tools. ASU Library provides many sources of news, listed on "News Sources" in this guide. One way to establish the trustworthiness of a sources is to start your search with one of those online databases, rather than the open web. There's no guarantee that everything you find will be trustworthy, but you will not come across as many hoaxes, conspiracies, and outright fraudulent sources as you will in a general web search.

2. Apply the CRAAP Test.

  • Currency: how recent is the article? An news article about careers in data analysis from five years ago isn't going to be nearly as accurate as one written last week, all else the same. 
  • Relevancy: does the information fit your needs? Who is the intended audience? 
  • Authority: Who is the author, creator, or publisher? See if you can find any other articles written by the author. What makes that person someone you should listen to? 
  • Accuracy: is the information supported by evidence?  Does the article cite facts that you can research?
  • Purpose: is the article intended to inform, sell, persuade or entertain? Is there evidence of any bias? Many sources have a bias, but this doesn't mean you shouldn't use them). Use a site like Media Bias/Fact Check if you're not sure.  https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/. If there is a bias, does it affect the trustworthiness of the article?

For more on the CRAAP test, ASU Library has created an interactive tutorial. It takes less than 10 minutes to complete: https://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/evaluating-resources/

 

 

 

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.