When doing research, it's important to find information that is accurate, reliable, and appropriate for your assignment. No matter the type of source you should always evaluate the information before you use it.
Knowing how to evaluate information can help you not only with your research assignments but also with larger life decisions. Knowing how to find accurate and relevant information can help you make decisions about graduate school, car loans, your health and more.
In evaluating information sources, there are always certain things to look for:
Use this worksheet to help you discover information about the websites you use in your research.
Lateral reading is what professional fact-checkers do to determine whether a source is credible or not. Instead of diving right into the source, it's about seeing what others have to say about that site/source. Check out this video to learn more.
There is a long history of using misinformation, especially in times of war, to further agendas. This type of information used to be spread by pamphlets, leaflets, and word of mouth. Nowadays, the Internet has created numerous ways for this information to spread. The good news is that there are ways to discover whether that image is accurate and those facts are true.
Use our Fake News/Disinformation Research Guide to learn those techniques.