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ENGL 105 - The Hidden Brain: 5 W's

Questions to Ask

When choosing a resource or website, use your critical thinking skills and the 5 Ws.

  • Who wrote this? 

  • What is the purpose of the resource? 

  • When was the resource published?

  • Where is the information from?

  • Why is this resource reliable?

Basically, this is another version of the CRAAP test (in a different order) which questions: 

  • reliability,
  • purpose,
  • currency,
  • authority and
  • accuracy.

IFLA infographic based on FactCheck.org’s 2016 article "How to Spot Fake News"