Subject Guide
Fact Check
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All Sides Provides multiple viewpoints on a variety of news stories.
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FactCheck.org A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center. See SciCheck for fact-checking science-related stories.
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FAIR.org A national media watch group, active since 1986.
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False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical “News” SourcesAnnotated list by Melissa Zimdar of Merrimack College. (Note: this list is a work in progress.)
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Media Bias Fact Check Evaluates and categorizes 900+ news sources, across the political spectrum.
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Open Secrets "Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy."
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Politifact Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-check site.
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A Rough Guide to Spotting Bad Science From Nodes of Science.
Crap Test
With resources like Google at our fingertips, information isn't hard to find. What is challenging is determining whether that information is credible and can be trusted. Is it factual? Biased? Relevant to your topic?
A Google search is often our first stop to gain a basic understanding of the main ideas of a topic, but since anyone with access to a computer can publish anything online, it is crucial that you evaluate the information you find, especially when completing a research paper, or looking for important information (like health or financial information).
Web sources can be particularly hard to evaluate, so here is a handy acronym to help you determine if a source may be CRAP.
- CURRENCY: How recently was this information published/posted? Can you find a publication date?
- RELIABILITY: Is the information supported by evidence? Can it be confirmed by other sources?
- AUTHORITY: Who wrote the information - are they an expert or knowledgeable in their field? (i.e. For health information, did a doctor or nurse write it? For science information, did a scientist or researcher write it?)
- PURPOSE / POINT OF VIEW: Why was it written? To sell something? To sway opinion? Is it biased toward a particular point of view?
Debunking Exercise
Compare these two links. Which one do you think is true? Why or why not?
1 - Eat This Not That: Shocking Facts About Farmed Salmon
2 - Washington State Department of Health: Farmed vs. Wild Salmon