Libguides Mis Disinformation Fact Checking Lateral Reading And Media

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 30, 2025, 10:08 PM

libguides mis disinformation fact checking lateral reading and media

The purpose of this guide is to provide students with information about how misinformation and disinformation work in mainstream media and social media landscapes. The content in this guide empowers students to identify misinformation and disinformation by: The messages, images, information, and experiences we engage with daily through media help shape our beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, values, and identity. Media literacy empowers you to think critically about how you consume media. In many ways, media literacy is a matter of consent because being media literate means that you take an active role in refusing or accepting the messages you engage in every day. One of the most effective strategies for evaluating information found online is to engage in lateral reading.

Lateral reading involves leaving the website, opening a new tab, and seeing what trusted digital sources say about that website and/or claim. The below CrashCourse video explains how you can use lateral reading to fact-check a source. It is important to note that several tools have been developed from lateral reading, most notably the SIFT method. This strategy walks through four "moves" that you need to take before reading and engaging with an online source. For more information, see the SIFT Method infographic. This video was created by CrashCourse in partnership with MediaWise, the Poynter Institute, and the Stanford History Education Group.

This video was created by CNTRL-F with support from CIVIX. ⚠️Is a link not working? Click here to report it. 660-248-6271 library@centralmethodist.edu 1. Here's a story from a news site called Natural News saying that nicotine can cure brain tumors: https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-06-20-ardis-nicotine-can-cure-tumors.html

Do you think Natural News is a reliable source of information? Why or why not? What lateral reading strategy did you use? 2. Here's a story from a site called AP News saying that a German ice cream shop has cricket-flavoured ice cream: https://apnews.com/article/germany-cricket-flavored-ice-cream-30ec8248ff14db3d842316e7b8e68bf7 Do you think AP News is a reliable source of information?

Why or why not? What lateral reading strategy did you use? 3. Here's a piece from the Policy section of a British news magazine called The Spectator: https://thespectator.com/topic/wildfire-apocalypse-canada-climate-change/ We're Building a Dystopia Just to Make People Click on Ads Lateral reading is a simple and effective means of evaluating online information sources to help you learn if an unfamiliar website is conveying worthwhile, trustworthy information.

When you come across a site new to you, don't start by actually looking at the page itself, or looking for artificial markers of "legitimacy" like the About page, URL, or citations. Instead, move laterally away from the page by opening a new tab in your browser and conducting a web search for the site or its author to see what others have to say about... Bad actors on the internet will, of course, tell you they're trustworthy, but newspaper stories, fact checking sites, or even Wikipedia articles about them may help you discover the site's ill intentions. The following short videos explain lateral reading in greater detail: Crumb Library: 315-267-2485 Crane Library: 315-267-2451 library@potsdam.edu Text Us!: 315-277-3730 SUNY Potsdam College Libraries 44 Pierrepont Ave Potsdam, NY 13676

Created by the National Center for State Courts In his January 2025 farewell address, President Biden said: It is imperative that you know how to fact check, evaluate, and stop the spread of bad information. Learn how to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation using any and all of the tools below. The SIFT Method is specifically built to help you spot misinformation and disinformation. It is a set of four fact-checking strategies that guide you through quickly making a decision about whether or not a source is worthy of your attention and trust.

The CRAP Test is a tool to guide you through deciding if a source meets your definition of credible. C.R.A.P. stands for Currency, Reliability, Authority and Purpose / Point of View. Library Home | Student Info | Faculty & Staff | Research Tools | Distance Learning | Remote Access | Useful Resources | Contact Us | Library Events As you research a topic you will retrieve many sources, including books, articles, and websites from a variety of different publishers and sources. Some of the sources may be scholarly and have undergone rigorous peer review, while others, particularly those on the Internet, may not have undergone any review at all.

Thus, an essential step in the research process is to critically assess the quality, authority, and relevance of the information you find. "Lateral readers don’t spend time on the page or site until they’ve first gotten their bearings by looking at what other sites and resources say about the source at which they are looking." from... Lateral reading means checking the information in other places before deciding that a source is good to use. Use SIFT alongside skills like lateral reading and asking questions to help dig further into a source of information STOP INVESTIGATE THE SOURCE FIND TRUSTED COVERAGE TRACE BACK TO THE ORIGINAL Evaluate a source using the CRAAP Test developed by California State University, Chico.

Evaluate a source using the Sift method. The SIFT method is an evaluation strategy developed by digital literacy expert, Mike Caulfield, to help determine whether online content can be trusted for credible or reliable sources of information. SIFT is the practice of doing a quick initial evaluation of a website by spending little time on the website and more time reading what others say about the source or related issue. Check out this video on how to use the SIFT method: https://youtu.be/qsrXJGpxwIE Stop: Do you know and trust the source? If not, investigate.

Evaluate your source. What is your purpose for potentially using this source? Are you having a strong reaction to the information (anger, joy etc.) ? Do you already know this source? Don't share or use this source until you know what you are looking at. By pausing, you give your brain time to process your initial response and to analyze the information more critically.

Investigate: What can you find out about your source? Who is the author? What do other credible organizations say about your source? What is the agenda behind the source? Find: Find other trusted coverage about your source. Did you find other credible sources on the same topic?

What is the consensus? Use fact checking sites like Snopes to verify the information. How to Spot Fake News by IFLA, licensed under CC BY 4.0 Recognizing misinformation and disinformation is a critical skill in an age where false or misleading content can spread quickly online. Being able to identify inaccurate information helps you make informed decisions, avoid manipulation, and contribute to a more trustworthy information environment. This section of the guide introduces key strategies for spotting mis/disinformation.

By developing these habits, you'll become a more confident and responsible consumer of digital content. How to Spot Fake news - Factcheck.org by Fact Check (c) YouTube (2017) These additional clues may indicate misinformation and disinformation: Disclaimer of Liability and Endorsement: Mitchell Community College LibGuides contain hyperlinks to third party websites. Mitchell Community College is not responsible for and does not routinely screen, approve, review or endorse the contents of or use of any of the products or services that may be offered at these... In no event will Mitchell Community College be liable for any damages or losses whatsoever resulting from or caused by accessing third party websites via LibGuides.

While LibGuides are updated periodically, no guarantee is given that the information provided is correct, complete, or up-to-date. Users of Mitchell Community College LibGuides do so at their own risk. In this short video from Crash Course: Navigating Digital Information, John Green teaches you how to employ lateral reading in evaluating your information. Lateral reading means: “instead of digging deep into the site at hand...lateral readers don’t spend time on the page or site until they’ve first gotten their bearings by looking at what other sites and... they get off the page...they open up many tabs in their browser. From Caulfield, M.

A. (2017). Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers. https://collection.bccampus.ca/textbooks/web-literacy-for-student-fact-checkers-361/ GO WIDE: Lateral reading is a strategy for investigating who's behind an unfamiliar online source by leaving the webpage and opening a new browser tab to see what trusted websites say about the unknown... It helps you determine an author’s credibility, intent and biases by searching for articles on the same topic by other writers (to see how they are covering it) and for other articles by the...

It's one of the primary strategies employed by professional fact checkers. The lateral reading concept and the term itself developed from research conducted by the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG), led by Sam Wineburg, founder and executive director of SHEG.

Libguides Mis Disinformation Fact Checking Lateral Reading And Media

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