Research and Course Guides: BUS 1010 Resources: Evaluating Online Information

When interacting with online information, use the SIFT model to evaluate what you come across. A list of the four moves is described below.

Information from Mike Caulfield's SIFT approach and his Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers (CC BY 4.0)

SIFT: Moves for Web Evaluation

STOP

The first move is to STOP. When you first hit a page or post and start to read it — STOP and ask yourself if you recognize the information source. If you don't know the source or its reputation, use the 4 moves of Fact Checkers (see below). Also stop to check your emotional response to the information.

INVESTIGATE the Source

Know what you're reading before you read it. By identifying the expertise and agenda of the source is crucial to your interpretation of what they say. Taking sixty seconds to figure out where media is from before reading will help you decide if it is worth your time, and if it is, help you to better understand its significance and trustworthiness. One simple way to do this is to look up the source in Wikipedia. What can you learn from Wikipedia about the source?

FIND Trusted Coverage

Sometimes you don’t care about the particular article or video that reaches you. You care about the claim the article is making. You want to know if it is true or false. You want to know if it represents a consensus viewpoint, or if it is the subject of much disagreement. You may want to look for trusted reporting or analysis on the claim. One strategy to do this is to search for a story on Google News. This can help find trusted sources. Another strategy is to look up claims in fact-checking websites such as Snopes.com, Politifact, Factcheck.org, Fact Checker (Washington Post), and FlackCheck.org.

TRACE Claims, Quotes, and Media Back to Original Context

Much of what we find on the internet has been stripped of context. Trace the claim, quote, or media back to the source, so you can see it in it’s original context and get a sense if the version you saw was accurately presented. So if you see something on Instagram or Twitter, trace it back to the original source to get the context. Use a reverse image search if you are working with an image. To do this, take the picture and search for it in Google Images to find its original source/context.

Fact-Checking Websites

Factcheck.org
"FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state and federal levels."
Fact Checker (Washington Post)
"The purpose of this website, and an accompanying column in the Sunday print edition of The Washington Post, is to “truth squad” the statements of political figures regarding issues of great importance, be they national, international or local. It’s a big world out there, and so we rely on readers to ask questions and point out statements that need to be checked."
Flackcheck.org
"Headquartered at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, FlackCheck.org is the political literacy companion site to the award-winning FactCheck.org. The site provides resources designed to help viewers recognize flaws in arguments in general and political ads in particular. Video resources point out deception and incivility in political rhetoric."
Politifact
Politifact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others on its Truth-O-Meter.
Snopes.com
"Snopes got its start in 1994, investigating urban legends, hoaxes, and folklore. Founder David Mikkelson, later joined by his wife, was publishing online before most people were connected to the internet. As demand for reliable fact checks grew, so did Snopes. Now it’s the oldest and largest fact-checking site online, widely regarded by journalists, folklorists, and readers as an invaluable research companion."

Blog Evaluation Assessment

Blog Evaluation Assessment - Information Fluency

Evaluating Websites - CRAAP Test

Before you look at a web page, remember that on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog. Anyone can write anything on the Internet and it doesn't have to be true. There are a couple of tools for assessing the quality of websites, one of which is the CRAAP test: a list of criteria that you can use to assess the credibility of a source. If you're doing research on the Internet, consider the following:

Currency: when was the information posted, has it been revised or updated, does it reflect current knowledge, do the links work?

Relevance: who is the page aimed at, is the information at an appropriate level, how does it compare to other sources on the same topic, would you be happy to use this a source if you were writing an assignment/dissertation?

Authority: who wrote the page, do they have any qualifications & and are they relevant to the topic, is there contact information, what is the top level domain e.g .com (companies) .gov (government), .org (non-profit organization), .edu/.ac (educational )?

Accuracy, what the source of the information, is it evidence-based, what kind of language is used, what is the tone of the page, is it free from grammatical or spelling errors, can you verify any of the information independently?

Purpose: why does the page exist, is the author trying to inform, persuade, entertain or sell you something, are the intentions clear, is it objective, Are there political, cultural or other biases?

BUS 1010 Resources

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