HON190 (MacPherson)

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

1.  Look to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim.  
Fact checkers research news stories and other information found on the internet to determine their accuracy. If you’re not sure whether the information you found is accurate, try using fact checking websites to help you in your research.

2.  Go to the original source to understand the trustworthiness of the information.  
If the claim is about:

• Research - use the PC Library's Journal Finder to see if you can find the journal it appeared in
• An event - use the PC Library newspaper databases to see if you can verify the news story
• An image - track down the origins of images by following the link.  
  • If no link is provided, try a reverse image search 
  • If using Google Chrome, place the cursor over the image, right-click and select "Search Google for image"

3.  If you're still not sure about its trustworthiness even after you found the original source, read what other people say about the source itself (publication, author, organization).

Look at what other sites say about the source.  Try using Wikipedia to investigate the source... yes, you read that right, we recommend you use Wikipedia to investigate and begin the research process!

As Mike Caulfield writes, "While Wikipedia must be approached with caution, especially with articles that are covering contentious subjects or evolving events, it is often the best source to get a consensus viewpoint on a subject. Because the Wikipedia community has strict rules about sourcing facts to reliable sources, and because authors must adopt a neutral point of view, articles are often the best available introduction to a subject on the web" (6).  

Still not sure about the truthfulness of the claim?  FIND ANOTHER SOURCE!

For additional criteria to consider when investigating the quality of the information you find, try using the CRAAPP Detector.