Sift The Four Steps Fact Checking Sift Method Hc Swcd Libraries

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 5, 2025, 10:28 PM

sift the four steps fact checking sift method hc swcd libraries

SIFT is an evaluation strategy developed by digital literacy expert Michael Caulfield (Washington State University Vancouver) to help you judge whether online content can be trusted for credible and reliable information. The SIFT strategy is quick, simple, and can be applied to various kinds of online content: social media posts, memes, statistics, videos, images, news articles, scholarly articles, etc. TRACE CLAIMS, QUOTES, AND MEDIA BACK TO THEIR ORIGINAL CONTEXT SIFT is a quicker, more effective way to evaluate online content than traditional “checklist” approaches (such as "the CRAAP Test"). Some checklist questions you might ask yourself when initially arriving at a webpage: In today’s world, asking yourself these kinds of questions is no longer enough.

Why? 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. What is SIFT (Infographic) This link opens in a new window The SIFT information presented has been adapted from materials by Mike Caulfield with a CC BY 4.0 This link opens in a new window license.

Check out Shapiro Library's Emily Evaluates series! Emily Evaluates with SIFT is a 6 part narrative series of 1-2 minute videos in which a college student named Emily investigates accusations of fraud made against one of her professors using the SIFT... Follow along as Emily applies the SIFT steps in a real world scenario! SIFT is a source evaluation methodology created by Mike Caulfield, a misinformation researcher. SIFT is a four-step method that helps you quickly evaluate online information by focusing your attention on what matters. The four moves—Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims to the original context—guide you in identifying reliable sources, avoiding misinformation, and amplifying accurate content.

By applying these moves with simple web techniques, you can become a more discerning consumer of information and resist the pull of clickbait. The SIFT method is especially helpful for evaluating news, social media, or other online media. Whether you're scrolling through social media, checking out the latest news, or researching for a class assignment, it is important to make sure the information you encounter is from trusted, credible, and reliable sources,... Chances are you were taught to move through a checklist of criteria when evaluating information online: While sometimes useful, this checklist not enough because it relies on superficial markers of credibility and authority. Instead of relying on these sort of checklists, consider using the S.I.F.T.

method. S.I.F.T. is an acronym to help you remember four simple but effective steps you can take to help determine what information to keep and what information to toss. S.I.F.T. stands for: STOP, INVESTIGATE, FIND, and TRACE. The SIFT method was created by Mike Caulfield.

In the videos on this research guide, Mike Caulfield will walk you through each step of S.I.F.T. EO/AA Statement | Privacy Statement | 103 Libraries Complex Crabbe Library Richmond, KY 40475 | (859) 622-1790© SIFT is a 4-step method to quickly ascertain the accuracy of any source by using fact-checkers’ strategies of cross-referencing information. Since information often seeks us out (Google’s top results lists, social media, or phone news feeds), this strategy is helpful to evaluate any sort of information you might share personally or use in academic... Content for this page has been adapted from Savvy Info Consumers: Social Media. Mike Caulfield, Washington State University digital literacy expert, has helpfully condensed key fact-checking strategies into a short list of four moves, or things to do to quickly make a decision about whether or not...

It is referred to as the “SIFT” method: When you initially encounter a source of information and start to read it—stop. Ask yourself whether you know and trust the author, publisher, publication, or website. If you don’t, use the other fact-checking moves that follow, to get a better sense of what you’re looking at. In other words, don’t read, share, or use the source in your research until you know what it is, and you can verify it is reliable. This is a particularly important step, considering what we know about the attention economy—social media, news organizations, and other digital platforms purposely promote sensational, divisive, and outrage-inducing content that emotionally hijacks our attention in...

Stop and check your emotions before engaging! You don’t have to do a three-hour investigation into a source before you engage with it. But if you’re reading a piece on economics, and the author is a Nobel prize-winning economist, that would be useful information. Likewise, if you’re watching a video on the many benefits of milk consumption, you would want to be aware if the video was produced by the dairy industry. This doesn’t mean the Nobel economist will always be right and that the dairy industry can’t ever be trusted. But knowing the expertise and agenda of the person who created the source is crucial to your interpretation of the information provided.

When investigating a source, fact-checkers read “laterally” across many websites, rather than digging deep (reading “vertically”) into the one source they are evaluating. That is, they don’t spend much time on the source itself, but instead they quickly get off the page and see what others have said about the source. They open up many tabs in their browser, piecing together different bits of information from across the web to get a better picture of the source they’re investigating. The SIFT method helps you quickly verify if information online is credible. Whether you’re looking at a social media post, a website, or an email, SIFT takes you through 4 easy steps to investigate your source, find better information about your topic, and trace a claim... It helps you understand the context and origin of the information, so you can effectively evaluate its trustworthiness.

SIFT, developed by Mike Caulfield, is a set of easy-to-learn habits that will save you time and help you select high quality sources of information. SIFT is a method of lateral reading, a media literacy strategy that requires to you to use other sources to determine the trust-worthiness of a claim – instead of simply staying on a site... This video gives an overview of the basics of lateral reading. Below, you will learn how to use the SIFT method to take you through four important lateral reading steps. Don’t read it or share it until you know what it is.Strong emotions are a signal to stop.Ask yourself: If you’re not sure, use the other moves to get a sense of what you’re looking at.

Overview from the BCC of the SIFT method SIFT is a more recent evaluation strategy developed by digital literacy expert Michael Caulfield (Washington State University Vancouver) to help you judge whether or online content can be trusted for credible and reliable information These four videos were produced in 2018 by Mike Caulfield, founder of the SIFT method. Mike Caulfield, Washington State University digital literacy expert, has helpfully condensed key fact-checking strategies into a short list of four moves, or things to do to quickly make a decision about whether or not... It is referred to as the “SIFT” method: What do professional fact-checkers do to quickly determine if a site should be trusted?

Watch this short video [3:13] for a real-life example: When you initially encounter a source of information and start to read it—stop. Ask yourself whether you know and trust the author, publisher, publication, or website. If you don’t, use the other fact-checking moves that follow, to get a better sense of what you’re looking at. In other words, don’t read, share, or use the source in your research until you know what it is, and you can verify it is reliable. This is a particularly important step, considering what we know about the attention economy—social media, news organizations, and other digital platforms purposely promote sensational, divisive, and outrage-inducing content that emotionally hijacks our attention in...

The SIFT method was created by Mike Caulfield. 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. Remember, you can always Ask a Librarian for help with evaluating information. Before you act on a strong emotional response to a headline, stop!

Ask yourself: Do I know this website? Do I know this information source? Do I know it's reputation?

Sift The Four Steps Fact Checking Sift Method Hc Swcd Libraries

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