Finding and analyzing websites can be tough in this era of fake news, hoax sites, propaganda, and the ability of anyone to make a good-looking website. Here are some Pro Tips:
START with reliable resources and use our library’s online Research Tools
SPOT FAKE NEWS:
- No author, anonymous author, or fake-sounding author
- Articles make you really angry
- All caps in titles or article
- News title doesn’t match article content (clickbait)
- Pictures or videos with no attribution, or that you’ve seen before
- Often a right or left leaning bias
- No quotes in story
- No About Us, or suspect-sounding information
- Lots of pop-up ads
TEST NEWS FOR RELIABILITY:
- Weird URL? Search the site on Wikipedia and see how they label it
- Are other news outlets carrying the story? Verify information in several places
- Snopes.com is a great fact checker
- Reputable Fact Checking sites from Common Sense Media
- Search the topic on Wikipedia
- Factcheck.org and politifact.com for politics, try poynter.org for news
Our Website Evaluation Checklist can help you decide if a site is reliable or not
Ask Ms. Jackson Sanborn for help!