Over the last week I have examined some undergraduate papers
in environmental and chemical engineering that were submitted within the last 3
years. I am evaluating the writing and
information literacy skills of the papers.
I observe that the majority of the references in the bibliographies are
web sites. This is disappointing since I
spent much time in class demonstrating the databases to them. Students seem to be content on using Google
to find the information they need.
On the positive side they do use reputable databases and
find the information to answer their research question. The papers they write are usually very
good. I keep wondering “If you can’t
beat them, join them.” Perhaps more time
in class should be devoted to evaluating web pages using the CRAAP test. CRAAP is the acronym for Currency, Relevance,
Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose.
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