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COB 202 - Social Issues

This guide will help COB 202 students use JMU Libraries resources to research social issues

How do you evaluate a source for credibility?

How do you determine if a source you found online is reliable? It is increasingly difficult to tell apart good information from bad when searching online. This is especially prevalent on Google, but even business databases aren’t immune. Some of our business databases are more transparent than others about the data they use and some just catalog information to make it easier to access, but don’t evaluate it for accuracy.   

The SIFT method introduces four “moves” which you can follow to help evaluate the information you find online for reliability. 

SIFT Method

Adapted from: Caulfield, Mike. “SIFT (The Four Moves).” Hapgood (blog), June 19, 2019. https://hapgood.us/2019/06/19/sift-the-four-moves/.

Using the SIFT Method

Stop!

When you first hit a webpage, post, infographic, etc. and start to read it — STOP. Ask yourself whether you know the website or source of the information, and what the reputation of both the claim and the website is. If you don’t have that information, use the I-F-T steps of the SIFT method to get a sense of what you’re looking at. Don’t read or share media until you know what it is.

Ask yourself: 

  1. What do you already know about this topic?
  2. Is the resource relevant to your information need? Skim the source to see if it answers the questions you have, but don’t spend a lot of time reading it until you know whether it is trustworthy or not.
  3. What do you know about the source? Do you know the reputation of the website/publisher?
  4. Are there any red flags, such as excessive ads, spelling errors, or sensational/emotional language?
  5. How current is the information? 

Investigate the Source

Take a moment to explore the author and publisher of this source to determine its reliability. You may be able to click on the author's name if it is hyperlinked or find an About Us page on the publisher's website, but don't stop there. By staying on a publisher's website you can find some good information about them like what content they prioritize, who their audience is, etc., but they are also going to put their best foot forward. Open up a new tab on your web browser and try to see what you can find from other sources about the author or publisher.

Ask yourself: 

  1. Is this an original piece or republished from another site?
  2. What organization originally published this information? What is their reputation?
  3. What agenda or purpose do the publisher(s) have in publishing or sharing this information? (To advertise, sell, educate, entertain, etc.) How might this impact the information?
  4. Who is the author of this source? What expertise do they have in your topic? 

If the source passes all these checks, take a moment to read the source you found in more depth before moving on to the next step. Do you notice any red flags while reading? 

Find Better Coverage

Explore what other sources have to say about the same topic. To do this, use a strategy called lateral reading. Watch this video to learn more about why this step is critical and how to go about lateral reading.

Ask yourself: 

  1. Where did the evidence or claims presented in the source originate from? Can you find the primary source or context for any claims, quotes, citations, or statistics mentioned in the source?
  2. Is there the potential for bias or misrepresentation in this source? Bias may not always be obvious, by learning more about the publisher and author you may learn more about what biases they may have presented in the source. What groups or information in the source may be impacted by that bias?
  3. What other coverage is available on the topic? This is an important step since it can reveal inconsistencies, bias, or details that were left out of the original source.
  4. Has a fact checker already investigated a claim this source makes? Fact-checkers are websites that will rate the accuracy of claims made in news articles, by political officials, public figures, and more. Their goal is to try to increase public knowledge by fact checking the accuracy of a claim based on evidence. A few popular fact checkers are: 

Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to their Original Context

When an article presents statistics, references a quote from an expert, summarizes results of a research study, or makes a claim about an image or video, it is good practice to attempt to locate the original source of the information.​

Ask yourself: 

  1. Are there any citations or references in the articles? What do they say?
  2. Are any specific people, organizations, or events mentioned? Who are they and what expertise do they have?
  3. Was the claim, quote, or media fairly represented? I.e. am I looking at the complete video, quote, etc. or just a piece that could have been taken out of context?
  4. What information or perspectives are being left out?