S.I.F.T: Evaluating Information in a Digital World
Fact Check Your Feed
Stop
Start with a plan. Check your bearings and consider your purpose for reading a source. Don't get sucked in a clickbait headline. Check your emotions and take breaks if you are overwhelmed.
Investigate the Source
Do you know the website or source of information? Familiarize yourself with the expertise and perspective of the author and publisher. Look up your source in Wikipedia. Consider what other sites say about your source. A fact-checking site may help.
Find Trusted Coverage
Find trusted reporting or analysis. Look for the best information on the topic, or scan multiple sources to see what the consensus is (i.e."lateral reading"). Seek in-depth coverage and consider the validity of opposing viewpoints. Even if you don't agree with the consensus, it will help you investigate it further.
Trace to the Original
Trace claims, quotes and media back to their source to see them in context. 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 reporter? Finding the original can help you decide if the version you have is accurately presented.
Stop, Investigate, Find, Trace.
Contact us with questions library@ucmerced.edu
Adapted by Paulina Allende, UC Merced Library, from Annie Ziedman-Karpinski, University of Oregon Libraries. Original based on Mike Caulfield's Hapgood blog post 6/19/19: "SIFT (The Four Moves)."
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