ENG101 - First-Year Composition

Mike Caulfield from the Digital Polarization Initiative suggests these four fact-checking strategies (and a habit) to help you to select credible sources and to avoid the spread of misinformation. 

First, the habit: STOP. Check to see what your emotional reaction is to a headline or a piece of information. Does is make you angry, frustrated, or feel validated? It if does, consider if you are too emotionally invested in this issue to see it with a clear, critical eye.

Now, here are the four moves or strategies that Caulfied recommends:

1) Check for previous work: Look around to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim or provided a synthesis of research. Snopes, Politifact, and Wikipedia are good places to start to verify a specific claim. Perhaps it has been fact-checked already by one of these organizations.

2) Go upstream to the source: Most things we find on the web are not original, or they often refer to a previous study or source. Do your homework and find the original source to verify if the source is trustworthy, or it is has been used in context. 

3) Read laterally: Read what other people say about the source (publication, author, etc.). If sources you trust cast doubt on the credibility of this new information, listen closely.

4) Circle back: Don't worry if you get lost or overwhelmed by dead ends. Go back to the start, but this time, you'll know more and will be able to search more effectively with new and different search terms and a more nuanced understanding of the topic. 

                                                     
                      The 5Ws help to evaluate any source you want to use.

Who? Who is the author, how are they an authority on this topic?
 

What? What's this publication really about? How is it relevant to YOUR paper? What's the purpose of the article? To persuade or to inform? What is the author's tone?
 

When? When was this document published? How soon after the events happened? This helps to understand the context.
 

Where? Where was this piece published? A newspaper, journal, book, blog? Does the publication reveal something about the bias of the author or of the publisher?
 

Why? Describe the purpose of this document? Who is the intended audience? Why does it enhance your paper?