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News/Media Literacy, Fact-Checking, and Popping Your Filter Bubble: Fact-Checking

Other Tips for Fact-Checking and Avoiding Fake News

  • When you open up a news article in your browser, open a second, empty tab.  Use that second window to look up claims, author credentials and organizations that you come across in the article.
  • Fake news spans across all kinds of media - printed and online articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, radio shows, even still images. Be prepared to double-check everything.
  • Beware of confirmation bias.  Just because you might agree with what an article is saying doesn't mean it's true.
  • As Mad-Eye Moody said in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, "Constant Vigilance!"  Always be ready to fact check.
  • Even the best researchers will be fooled once in a while.  If you find yourself fooled by a fake news story, use your experience as a learning tool.

Is it Credible?

Evaluate your sources thoroughly.  Check for the following things.

1.  Currency

  • Is the information current?
  • Do the links within a website work?

2.  Relevance

  • Is it related to your topic?
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • Is it written at an appropriate level for the intended audience?

3.  Authority

  • Who is the author? 
  • Is the author qualified to write on this topic?
  • Who is the publisher?

4.  Accuracy

  • Is this a peer-reviewed source?
  • Is there evidence to support the information?
  • is it free from bias?
  • Does it include correct spelling and grammar?
  • Can the information be verified through other sources?

5.  Purpose

  • Does the author intend to inform, teach, sell, entertain, or persuade?
  • Is the purpose clearly stated?
  • Is the information objective?
  • Is it biased?
  • Is it fact, opinion, or propaganda?

Fact-Checking as a Means of Combating Inaccurate or Misleading News

Want to make sure your information is accurate? Take these steps.

Click on the links for more information about each step.

  • Check your emotions
    • Why? Because you’re already likely to check things you know are important to get right, and you’re predisposed to analyze things that put you in an intellectual frame of mind. But things that make you angry or overjoyed, well… our record as humans are not good with these things.
  • Check for previous work
  • Go "upstream" to the source
    • Go “upstream” to the source of the claim. Most web content is not original. Get to the original source to understand the trustworthiness of the information.
  • Read laterally
    • Read laterally. Once you get to the source of a claim, read what other people say about the source (publication, author, etc.). The truth is in the network.
    • Evaluate the source by thinking about the:
      • Process: How was the information created and are there mechanisms in place for correcting errors?
      • Expertise: Why is the author qualified to write on this topic? Is s/he an expert? Does the author have professional knowledge of the topic? Are other experts being interviewed for the source?
      • Aim: What is the publication, author, or media source attempting to accomplish? In other words, what incentive do they have to get things right?
  • Circle back
    • If you get lost, or hit dead ends, or find yourself going down an increasingly confusing rabbit hole, back up and start over knowing what you know now. You’re likely to take a more informed path with different search terms and better decisions.
  • Take action if needed

(from Caulfield's Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers)