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Online Research Lateral Reading And Sift Central Michigan University

Bonisiwe Shabane
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online research lateral reading and sift central michigan university

Lateral reading is an evaluation strategy that's especially helpful in the online environment. You take the name of the website (or article, or book, etc.) you have, and search it online to see more information from others. Remember that websites with biases tend to present themselves and their viewpoints in the best possible light - if you truly want to evaluate it, you will have to go outside. See more below! As a way to help lateral reading evaluation, Mike Caulfield at Washington State University created a method he calls the Four Moves, or later called SIFT. SIFT stands for Stop; Investigate the source; Find better coverage; and Trace claims, quotes, and media back to the original context.

This method, as with lateral reading in general, puts an individual source back into context. It allows you to evaluate it in the larger information ecosystem, rather than as a silo all its own. Note - in finding "better" coverage, this refers to coverage that better suits your needs. To avoid confusion about one source being objectively better than another, I have changed this slightly to "Find Other Coverage". STOP: Evaluate the source that you have found. Remember what your purpose is.

What do you need from this source, and what type of information do you need it to provide? What are the major claims being made here? Do you see any issues that should be verified or investigated further? Make a plan to put this source in the context of other information, not just what it presents here. FIND Other Coverage: In searching for information about the source you found, did you find other sources on the same question or topic? Are those sources in consensus with the source you originally found, or do they have different information?

Would these new sources be more appropriate for your information needs? Apply lateral reading to the new source - what are other websites or organizations saying about this new source? How does this new coverage put your original source in context? When you encounter any kind of source, consider: From Berkley Library (University of California) Look Over what you have by using the CRAAP test or other vertical evaluation tool.

Investigate the source by seeing what other organizations or people say. Find other sources on your question or topic. Are they similar? No matter what type of source you would like to use, what format it is in (print, web, or multimedia), or where you find it, there are many questions you can ask as you... Websites can be used for references in papers just like articles, or books. Maybe you've been given instructions to find websites that are "scholarly".

While websites aren't scholarly in the same way that books or articles are, you DO want to make sure the websites you use have information that is current, relevant, accurate, reliable, and unbiased, and... Use this guide to find out how to check your websites for credibility! Why do websites end in .com, .org, .edu, or .gov? Find out how to search Google for each type. Scott Schiller, 2009, https://flic.kr/p/6mu9LE Find out more about fake news and how to spot biases and misleading information in news media.

Stuart Rankin, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/n8l7x4g 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. All SIFT information on this page is adapted from his materials with a CC BY 4.0 license. Determining if resources are credible is challenging. Use the SIFT method to help you analyze information, especially news or other online media. Before you read or share an article or video, STOP!​

Be aware of your emotional response to the headline or information in the article. Headlines are often meant to get clicks, and will do so by causing the reader to have a strong emotional response. What you already know about the topic. ​ When you encounter any kind of source, consider: From Berkley Library (University of California)

Look Over what you have by using the CRAAP test or other vertical evaluation tool. Investigate the source by seeing what other organizations or people say. Find other sources on your question or topic. Are they similar? To practice evaluating websites you find, let's apply what we've learned so far to two examples! This site is a fairly obvious joke - octopi are sea animals and do not live in trees (in the Pacific Northwest or elsewhere).

However, if the subject were the (not real) endangered Pacific Northwest Pine Owl, would you be able to tell the site was a fake? Conclusion - this is NOT a valid website to use in scholarly research! This website looks very professional and polished, and much like other professional health organizations. There don't appear to be any obvious typos and it is updated regularly. However, what can we discover about it when we leave the website and do an internet search? Conclusion - this source is biased toward one point of view.

When evaluating web sources, "lateral reading" ("lateral" meaning "side-to-side") refers to the practice of seeing what other sources have to say about the source in question, rather than seeing what it says about itself,... by reading the "About" page of a website). Often a simple Google search is enough to establish whether a site or organization has a reputation for sharing unreliable or heavily biased information. Read more about lateral reading here: https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/chapter/what-reading-laterally-means Note: lateral reading can be applied to scholarly sources as well! Remember that "peer-reviewed" does not always mean "reliable information." It usually does, but sometimes peer-reviewed articles are later retracted for inaccuracies.

Lateral reading activity: https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/chapter/activity-evaluate-a-site/ Source: Lateral Reading / SIFT Method - Evaluating Sources - LibGuides at Wittenberg University When evaluating web sources, "lateral reading" ("lateral" meaning "side-to-side") refers to the practice of seeing what other sources have to say about the source in question, rather than seeing what it says about itself,... by reading the "About" page of a website). Often a simple Google search is enough to establish whether a site or organization has a reputation for sharing unreliable or heavily biased information. Read more about lateral reading here: https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/chapter/what-reading-laterally-means

Note: lateral reading can be applied to scholarly sources as well! Remember that "peer-reviewed" does not always mean "reliable information." It usually does, but sometimes peer-reviewed articles are later retracted for inaccuracies. Lateral reading activity: https://webliteracy.pressbooks.com/chapter/activity-evaluate-a-site/ Trace claims, quotes, and media to their original context Critical appraisal tests like SIFT can also be used to evaluate the credibility of news websites and the stories they produce (which often go viral on social media). Here are some more resources to help you check!

Check the below sites to see if you can verify information you find in one source. Central Michigan University Libraries, 250 East Preston Street, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 | (989) 774-1100 | About | Copyright © Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 | (989) 774-4000 | Privacy Policy

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