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PolyU Library

Online Tools for Assignment

Introduce useful online tools that may help to prepare your assignment.

Easy-to-use Online Tools

There are many new online tools being developed every day. Knowing which tool to use when preparing your assignment can definitely help make the process of putting together an assignment easier. This online guide aims to introduce several easy-to-use online tools and some tips you can use when preparing an assignment. The types of tools we are going to cover include:

This guide will introduce and highlight what these tools can do when preparing for your assignment. There are tutorials and resources that you can study further if you find these tools useful. Also, if you come across other tools, do recommend them to us and we can share them here with more students.

Library Databases

Some of the online tools we are going to introduce are from the databases subscribed by the Library. You can browse the databases relevant to your assignment by subject area or by type of resource with the steps below:

  1. Visit the Library homepage.
  2. Go to the Database tab
  3. Browse the databases by faculties and departments here, or
  4. Browse the databases by type of resources


 

 Feel free to contact your Faculty Librarian to explore more databases relevant to your assignment.

A Tip for Evaluate Information Sources

Once you have identified the books, articles, websites, or other types of information, you will need to make sure your sources are reliable and relevant to your research topic. 

You can use the CRAAP test to evaluate your sources - basically ask yourself questions on whether your source is current, relevant, authoritative, and accurate. Watch the video "Evaluate Sources" to learn how the CRAAP test can be used. 

CRAAP stands for:


Evaluating Sources from Western University [2:16]

  • C - Currency:
    • When was the information posted or published? 
    • Are the links still working?
  • R - Relevance:
    • Does the information relate to your topic?
    • Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or too advanced for your needs)?
  • A - Authority:
    • Who is the author/publisher?
    • What are the author's organizational affiliations?
    • Does the website URL reveal anything about the source? 
Commonly seen domains include:
.com - mainly for commercial (for profit) entities. You should be most cautious of the information provided by these sites.
.org - mainly for organizations, can be for profit or non for profit.
.gov - mainly government websites. 
.edu - mainly for educational use. The sites are usually for universities or institutions. 
  • A - Accuracy:
    • Is the information supported by evidence?
    • Has the information been peer reviewed?
    • Are there any spelling errors?
  • P - Purpose:
    • What is the purpose of the information? Is it to inform, teach, sell or entertain? 
    • Is the information fact, opinion or propaganda?

References: 

Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, the content of this guide is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.