This course makes you a sharper, calmer judge of what you read — with clear criteria (the CRAAP test), the scholarly-vs-popular distinction, an ear for bias, and the professional move of lateral reading.

In a world where anyone can publish anything, it gives you the habits to tell trustworthy information from confident-sounding error.

What you’ll be able to do

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• apply the CRAAP test to any source;
• distinguish scholarly from popular sources;
• detect loaded language and one-sidedness;
• fact-check a claim by reading laterally;
• critically assess a website before trusting it;

The lessons

1. Evaluating Sources — the CRAAP test — five quick questions for any source.
2. Scholarly vs Popular Sources — telling the two apart and knowing when to use each.
3. Identifying Bias — spotting the lean every source carries.
4. Fact-Checking Techniques — lateral reading and tracing claims to their origin.
5. Digital Source Evaluation — judging websites on the open web.

How to study this course

Work through the lessons in order — each is a short read with a worked example, a quick exercise, and a hand-picked free resource. Use the Previous and Next buttons at the foot of each page to move along. There are no fees and no enrolment barriers; the course is open to everyone, and you can revisit it any time.

This courseware is provided free by FRELIP. Original text released under CC BY 4.0; linked resources remain under their own licences. Curated by the FRELIP Open Courseware editorial team.