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HASS 103: Writing and Communications Colloquium

This guide will help students get started with their research.

What to Ask About What You're Reading

When reading anything, whether for school, personal interest, or any other reason, it's always good to do a quick check to make sure you can trust it as a source.

Ask yourself:

  • WHO is it for?
  • WHERE did it come from?

 

Think about the following aspects. If you can't figure out any of these, that's a sign to dig deeper into the source, and maybe open a tab to use a search engine and find out more about the publisher, author, or topic. See the box below about fact-checking for more info.
 

Who is it for?

  • Audience
    • Tone
  • Credentials
    • Author
    • Cites sources

 

Where did it come from?

  • Source
    • Journal
    • Publisher
    • Website
  • Context
    • Publication date
    • Medium/domain

Fact Checking

When trying to decide if the document (article, website, video, etc.) you're looking at can be trusted to give you correct information, act like a fact checker.

Fact checkers work in journalism to correct errors in nonfiction writing. They are usually hard at work behind the scenes in mainstream media, particularly newspapers and magazines, investigating the work of journalists to make sure an article accurately reflects the facts before it is published. In recent years, online fact-checking organizations have popped up to counter the spread of misinformation facilitated by the internet. 

When you are reading a document and want to make sure it's credible, do as a fact checker does and read laterally. That is, open a new tab and do a search for the publisher/website, the author, the facts of the story. How is the issue described elsewhere? What kind of reputation does the publisher or website have? What else has the author written or created?

More about fact-checkers

The Duke University Reporters' Lab tracks fact-checking organizations across the world and collects news about fact-checking.

Reference
Wineburg, S. & McGrew, S. (2017, October 6). Lateral reading: Reading less and learning more when evaluating digital information. Stanford History Education Group Working Paper No. 2017-A1. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3048994