Misinformation and Disinformation: Resources for Fact Checking

Spotting fake news can be hard. Here are some tips to spot fake news:

• Examine URLs: Weird domain names (such as .co in ABCNews.com.co) may indicate fake news websites.
• Check the “About Us”/”Contact Us” page and look at authorship: If there is no “About Us” or “Contact Us” page, the site may not be credible. Check author credentials to get some background information.
• Examine the layout of the website: If the website does not look professionally designed, it may not provide the most unbiased information.
• Search for other sources that published the story: Publication by professional news sources can lend credibility to stories.
• Check for extraordinary claims: Be wary of sources that use click-bait words such as “shocking,” “outrageous,” and “explosive."
• Check links and references: Click on links to see if they go to the story cited.
• If the story seems like satire, it probably is: Most sites feature disclaimers about their satire distinction; follow the story back to the source to see if other stories are satires.

For more information on spotting fake news, watch this video from factcheck.org.

• Think before you share: Read the whole piece before you share the information.
• Verify information: Use some of the fact-checking tools listed below to verify the information.
• Expand your information network: Include diverse perspectives from quality sources in your news consumption.
• Evaluate your news sources: Use the IMVAIN procedure to evaluate your news sources.
• Look for journalistic standards: High-quality news sources have explicit editorial standards and professional ethics that they follow. Look to see if your source has an explicit Editorial Policy.

Learn how to check the credibility of websites with lateral reading.  "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." (News Literacy Project).  Lateral reading is a strategy to see if a source is credible,  by leaving the webpage and opening a new browser tab to see what trusted websites say about the unknown source.

Expand your view with lateral reading

Intro to Lateral Reading

Lateral Reading Resource Guide: Evaluating Resources

Video:   Check yourself with Lateral Reading

Video: Example of how to lateral read  by the University of Louisville Libraries