Evaluating Online Sources

Lateral Reading for Fact Checking

• To get the full picture, you will verify what you read as you are reading it.

• Fact checkers at news organizations use lateral reading - "hopping off an unfamiliar site almost immediately and investigating outside the site itself."

• One reason digital sources are difficult to evaluate for bias is that the bias is often intentionally hidden, masking the true intent of the organization by making it appear more widespread or organic. (style.mla.org/lateral-reading) 

Lateral Reading Takes Place Thru Google on the Web

Lateral reading includes:

• Opening new tabs in a browser to research website authors or organizations

• Looking for bias or messaging associated with organizations

• Looking for hyperlinks or citations to other sources and organizations and researching the hyperlinked organizations/sources for bias

• Locating several trusted sources to verify all information

• Using Fact Checking sites

For more information see Stanford University's Lateral Reading and Civic Online Reasoning resources.