4.1: Why Fact-Checking?
Introduction
When you find a source of information, how do you know if it’s true? How can you be sure that it is a reliable, trustworthy, and effective piece of evidence for your research? This chapter will introduce you to a set of strategies to quickly and effectively verify your sources, based on the approach taken by professional fact-checkers. Fact-checking is a form of information hygiene —it can minimize your own susceptibility to misinformation and disinformation, and help you to avoid spreading it to others.
As an introduction, please watch the following video [3:13], which discusses the results of a very interesting study of Stanford students, historians, and professional fact-checkers (Wineburg and McGrew). Which group do you think did the best job of identifying reliable sources?
Note: Turn on closed captions with the “CC” button or use the text transcript if you prefer to read.
Sources
“ Online Verification Skills – Video 1: Introductory Video .” YouTube , uploaded by CTRL-F, 29 June 2018.
Wineburg, Sam, and Sarah McGrew. “ Lateral Reading: Reading Less and Learning More When Evaluating Digital Information .” Stanford History Education Group Working Paper No. 2017-A1 , 6 Oct. 2017, dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3048994.