Information Literacy & Critical Appraisal: Evaluating News and Web Sources

When evaluating the reliability of a source, it can be useful to determine the purpose of the source.  Keep in mind a single source may have more than one purpose!  The purpose of a source may be, but is not limited to:

• persuade
  • almost any source you encounter is trying to make an argument; identifying that argument can help you figure out the purpose of a source
• inform or educate
  • informative sources try to present facts or data as objectively as possible; much of the content in news sources or scholarly journals falls under this category
• sell something or raise money
  • many websites depend on advertisers or fundraising to stay afloat; the types and frequency of ads you see or appeals for donations can tell you a lot about the site's purpose and intended audience
• connect with others
  • social media posts are created to share updates with friends and followers but are one of the top ways misinformation is spread
• entertain
  • many pieces created to entertain may fall under the categories of satire or hoax
    • satirical pieces comment on a situation using humor, exaggeration, or ridicule to highlight its absurdity
      • think of sites like The Onion and McSweeney's, or shows like The Office, The Daily Show, and Veep
    • hoaxes are false stories created to intentionally deceive others, whether humorously or maliciously
      • think of viral stories like balloon boy and crop circles

When encountering new information, it's a good idea to get into the habit of questioning the source.  Consider the 6 Ws:  who, what, when, where, why, and how.  If you can't answer a question about a source, do some searching to find out more about it.

Some of these questions may help you analyze a source, though this is not an exhaustive list:

• Who
  • Who is the author and what is their background?
  • Can you find information about the author online? 
  • Who is the publisher? What is their reputation?
     
• What
  • What is the quality of the source? For example, what sources are cited, does it seem to be sensationalized or badly written?
  • What type of source is it?
  • Are alternative points of view presented?
  • Does the author cite accurate sources to support their argument?
     
• When
  • When was this source published?
  • Have newer articles been published on your topic?
  • Are links or references to other sources up-to-date?
  • Is your topic in an area that changes rapidly, like technology or science?
     
• Where
  • What is the original source of information? What does this site look like?
  • Is the site a hoax or satirical site?
     
• Why
  • What may be the writer or publisher’s agenda in making this information available?
  • What is the purpose of this source?
  • Who may be the intended audience?
     
• How
  • What information can you find about who owns or pays for the site?
  • How does the author support their arguments?  Do links to references work?
  • Does this source meet the requirements for your assignment?
  • Is the content of this source relevant to you?

We suggest four techniques to fact-check information you encounter.  These include:

• Use fact-checking tools
  • Look around to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim or provided a synthesis of research.
  • To look at a broader range of sources, do a search for the story with the word “hoax” or “fake” added.
  • If no reliable fact-checker has covered it yet, move on to other steps like Find the source or Check other sources.
     
• Find the source
  • Go “upstream” to find the source of the claim. Most web content is not original. Get to the original source to understand the trustworthiness of the information.
  • The easiest way to find the source is usually to follow links that will lead you to the original story. In social media like Facebook or Twitter, the link is usually at the end or bottom of the post.
  • To find the original source of a photo or image, you can use something called reverse image search. Start by right-clicking on the image and selecting the option “Copy Image Location.” Then go to the website Tineye.com and paste in the address you just copied and sort the results to show the oldest first.
     
• Verify the source
  • 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.
  • Do they really exist?
  • Are they who they say they are?
  • Are they trustworthy?
  • Are they a comedy or satirical site?
     
• Check other sources
  • Find out what other news sources are saying about this story.  This technique is useful for finding out if a news story really happened and if the sources reporting on it agree on the basic details.

Adapted from Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Michael A. Caulfield, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License