SIFT METHOD

Evaluate Information in a digital world: 

STOP:

Do you know the website or source of information?   Start with a plan. Check your bearings and consider what you want to know and your purpose. Usually, a quick check is enough. Sometimes you'll want a deep investigation, to verify all claims made and check your sources. 

INVESTIGATE THE SOURCE:

Know the expertise and agenda of your source so you can interpret it. Consider what other sites say about your source. A fact checking site may help. Read carefully while you click. 

FIND TRUSTED COVERAGE:

Find trusted reporting or analysis, look for the best information on a topic, or scan multiple sources to see what the consensus is. Find something more in depth and read about more viewpoints. 

TRACE THE ORIGINAL:

Trace claims, quotes, and media back to the source. What was clipped out of a story/photo/video and what happened before or after? When you read the research paper mentioned in a news story, was it accurately reported? Find the original source to see the context, so you can see if the version you have is accurately presented. 

Source: University of Oregon Research Guides

ACT UP Evaluating Sources

ACT UP

A-Author: Who wrote the resource? Who are they? Background information matters. Google them and see if they are qualified to write about the topic. Has the website or any of its authors been reported as a source of fake news. 

C-Currency: When was this resource written? When was it published? Does this resource fit into the currency of your topic?

T-Truth: How accurate is this information? Can you verify any of the claims in other sources? Are there typos and spelling mistakes? Follow the rule of three-you should be able to look up claims in at least three other sources. 

U-Unbiased: There is no such thing as unbiased. We all have biases. Find out who funded the research. Follow the money. Often times founders have a vested interest in the research outcomes. 

P: Privilege:  Check the privilege of the author(s). Are they the only folks who might write or publish on this topic? Who is missing in this conversation? Critically evaluate the subject terms associated with each resource you found. How are they described? What are the inherent biases?

Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. Our core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy. - PolitiFact

We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. ...  Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding. - Politifact

We expose people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world — and each other. Our balanced news coverage, media bias ratings, civil dialogue opportunities, and technology platform are available for everyone and can be integrated by schools, nonprofits, media companies, and more. - AllSides

Part of The Washington Post, the purpose of this website, and an accompanying column in the Sunday print edition of The Washington Post, is to “truth squad” the statements of political figures regarding issues of great importance, be they national, international or local. It’s a big world out there, and so we rely on readers to ask questions and point out statements that need to be checked.

Is someone referencing a website that you can't find? Maybe it's been deleted? The Wayback Machine contains 391 billion webpages from the past 20 years. It's a wonderful tool for finding websites that have been taken down.