Misinformation and Media Bias (Alexandria)

Here are 3 things to do to check a claim (for more details see the rest of the sections on this page):

1. Check with Fact-Checkers - others may have already investigated this claim.
2. Go to the Source - who published the claim?
3. What Do Others Say about the Source (Lateral Reading)?

Based on "Four Moves" from Michael A. Caulfield's Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers.

Use Rate My Source, from University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, to determine if your source is appropriate for college research!

Someone else may have already fact-checked the claim.  Here are links to a few fact-checking sites to consult:

Who is making the claim?

Go to their website to learn more about them:

• Check the "About Us" section to look for information such as:
  • their mission
  • where they get their funding
  • who's on their Board of Directors/Advisory Board
  • who are their authors/editors and what are their backgrounds and credentials?
• What's the website like?  What other kinds of stories are on that site?

Google Search Tip: Put quotation marks around the name of the organization you're searching for to ensure it's searched as a phrase (e.g., "American Heart Association").  Some unreliable sources name themselves in a way that is very similar to reputable sources, so the quotation marks will help ensure you find results with the exact name of the organization you want.

Search for the name of the organization and/or person who originally published the claim.

Search for websites (Google) or articles (from library resources, below) to learn more about the source (publisher, author, or creator of the site or information):

• Does the website or article quote from or identify the source as an authority in that area?
• Or, does the article identify or discuss the source as an unreliable or hoax source?

Search Tip:  Put quotation marks around the name of the organization you're searching for to ensure it's searched as a phrase (e.g., "American Heart Association"). 

Citizen Literacy was created by Robert Detmering, Amber Willenborg, and Terri Holtze for University of Louisville Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.