ESL 151 - READING AND COMPOSITION V - McGrath

Evaluating sources, that is making sure they are relevant, credible, and factual, can be pretty difficult. There is no one way to evaluate a source BUT people have developed strategies that you can apply to help you. Today, we will practice using the SIFT method.

What Makes an Information Source "Good?"

“Good” sources include those that provide complete, current, factual information, and/or credible arguments based on the information creator’s original research, expertise, and/or use of other reliable sources.

Whether a source is a good choice for you depends on your information needs and how you plan to use the source.

Evaluating Sources Using Lateral Reading

The SIFT approach to evaluating sources helps you select quality sources by practicing:

  Lateral Reading (SIFT): fact-checking by examining other sources and internet fact-checking tools; and

The SIFT method was created by Mike Caulfield under a CC BY 4.0 International License.

SIFT

Stop Check your emotions before engaging Do you know and trust the author, publisher, publication, or website? If not, use the following fact-checking strategies before reading, sharing, or using the source in your research Investigate the source Don’t focus on the source itself for now Instead, read laterally Learn about the source’s author, publisher, publication, website, etc. from other sources, such as Wikipedia Find better coverage Focus on the information rather than getting attached to a particular source If you can’t determine whether a source is reliable, trade up for a higher quality source Professional fact checkers build a list of sources they know they can trust Trace claims to the original context Identify whether the source is original or re-reporting Consider what context might be missing in re-reporting Go “upstream” to the original source Was the version you saw accurate and complete?

 SIFT & PICK by Ellen Carey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Last updated 4/11/23.