SCET Journal 2020

Prompting

Critical Thinking

Appendix As an example of how to use the CRAP test, here are some questions we use to guide students in evalu- ating a Wikipedia article: • Currency  – Use the [View history] tab on a Wiki- pedia article to check when it was created, and whether it has been kept up-to-date. Review the publication dates on the references at the end of the article; • Reliability  – While vandalism and spam can be an issue for Wikipedia, every edit is recorded, and all versions can be easily restored. There are automated filters plus human patrollers who monitor recent edits and pages of interest to them. Wikipedia has a checklist of reliability criteria that considers accuracy of information, appropriateness of images, style and focus of articles, exclusion and removal of false informa-

tion, comprehensiveness, scope and coverage, susceptibility to editorial and systemic bias, and quality of writing; • Authority  – All statements in Wikipedia should be facts backed up by references to reputable third-party sources. A quality article should have no [citation needed] flags, and a quality refer- ence list. Readers can check who has made edits on an article in the [View history] tab by clicking on the editor’s username and a link to the editor’s other Wikipedia contributions; • Purpose/Point of view  – Wikipedia is an ency- clopedia, written from a neutral point of view. Its content should include facts, not opinions. To check for debates and contentious issues relat- ed to topics, click on the [Talk page] of an article and read the discussion.

Source: https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/critical-thinking-tools-the-crap-test

j Dr. Deidre M. Clary is a former administrator and secondary school English teacher who has taught literacy and secondary English education at the University of South Carolina (USC) and the University of New England (Australia). Areas of interest and research include disciplinary literacy, critical literacy, mentoring models, and more recently, the decline of student writing worldwide. She currently teaches in the MEd program at USC and writes on Australian education policy.

South Carolina English Teacher

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