LibGuides: Information Literacy: Evaluate

What is fake news and how does it spread?

Why is it important to evaluate information?

STEP 1

Evaluate the CRAAP out of the source.

Use the CRAAP test to evaluate the source. Is it current? Is it relevant? Who is the author/authority? Is it accurate? What is the purpose? Use the links below to question the source further.

Is the source an article posted to a website?

"Fun" Fact: "59 percent of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked." (Washington Post)

Read the article!
Pay attention to the domain and URL.
Read the "About Us" section or look for direct contact information.
Does the author quote experts?
Check the comments.
Right-click any photos.

(Adapted from NPR "Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts")

Use the additional resources below to help evaluate online content.

News Sources
by Mallory Cornett Last Updated Sep 12, 2019 3 views this year

Alexa
"Learn about a Web site's traffic details, related links, and contact/ownership information for the domain name."
Domain Name
Guide to "False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical 'News' Sources"
Legit-O-Meter
Lateral Reading
From Civic Online Reasoning

Evaluation Activity

Evaluate the following sources for credibility using the CRAAP method or the RAVEN template:

Quiz

Factitious 2020 - Pandemic Edition
Find out if you can detect fake news from real news!

STEP 2

Go a step further and check out John Green's Navigating Digital Information Crash Course in 10 episodes. Green teams with MediaWise, The Poynter Institute, and The Stanford History Education Group "to develop this curriculum of hands-on skills to help you evaluate the information you read online. By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Examine information using the same skills and questions as fact-checkers
Read laterally to learn more about the authority and perspective of sources
Evaluate different types of evidence, from videos to infographics
Understand how search engines and social media feeds work
Break bad internet habits like impatience and passivity, and build better ones"

Library Books

The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking by Brooke Borel
Call Number: 001.42 BOREL
ISBN: 9780226290768
Publication Date: 2016-10-03

Additional Resources

AllSides
"We expose people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world — and each other.
more...less...
Our media bias ratings, civil dialogue opportunities, and technology platform are available to the public and can be integrated by schools, nonprofits, media companies, and more."
Factcheck.org
"We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases." (University of Pennsylvania)
Fearless Fact-Finding
A collection of fact-checking sites from Common Sense Education’s Educator Toolkit: News and Media Literacy
How to Spot Fake News
"Fake news is not new, but it's never been so pervasive or harder to spot." Use the COM Library's libguide for spotting fake news.
Media Bias/Fact Check
Don’t be fooled by Fake News sources. When in doubt, use this website's search feature to check the bias of ANY source.
OpenSecrets
"Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy."
PolitiFact.org
"Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy." (The Poynter Institute)
PUNDITFACT
"PunditFact is a project of the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute, dedicated to checking the accuracy of claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, the hosts and guests of talk shows, and other members of the media."
SciCheck
"FactCheck.org’s SciCheck feature focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy."
Snopes
"The oldest and largest fact-checking site on the Internet"
State of the News Media
"These data speak to the shifting ways in which Americans seek out news and information, how news organizations get their revenue, and the resources available to American journalists as they seek to inform the public about important events of the day. The press is sometimes called the fourth branch of government, but in the U.S., it’s also very much a business – one whose ability to serve the public is dependent on its ability to attract eyeballs and dollars."
Truth Be Told
“TruthBeTold.news is a non-profit, non-partisan website and digital network, run and edited from Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism and Film in the School of Communications. It uses journalistic skills and crowdsourced information to play a leading role by examining claims about the black community in public debate.
more...less...
It also serves as a fun but, serious learning environment for students to teach them advanced reporting tools in a way that is engaging and allows them to use the social media skills they already possess.”

Information Literacy: Evaluate

What is fake news and how does it spread?

Why is it important to evaluate information?

STEP 1

Evaluate the CRAAP out of the source.

Use the CRAAP test to evaluate the source. Is it current? Is it relevant? Who is the author/authority? Is it accurate? What is the purpose? Use the links below to question the source further.

Is the source an article posted to a website?

"Fun" Fact: "59 percent of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked." (Washington Post)

Read the article!

Pay attention to the domain and URL.

Read the "About Us" section or look for direct contact information.

Does the author quote experts?

Check the comments.

Right-click any photos.

(Adapted from NPR "Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts")

Use the additional resources below to help evaluate online content.

Evaluation Activity

Evaluate the following sources for credibility using the CRAAP method or the RAVEN template:​

Quiz

STEP 2

Examine information using the same skills and questions as fact-checkers

Read laterally to learn more about the authority and perspective of sources

Evaluate different types of evidence, from videos to infographics

Understand how search engines and social media feeds work

Break bad internet habits like impatience and passivity, and build better ones"

Library Books

Additional Resources

Evaluate the following sources for credibility using the CRAAP method or the RAVEN template: