LibGuides: Fake News and Misleading Research: What You Can Do

Website Evaluation

Anyone can create a website. It's your job to determine if a website is a scholarly resource.

Stop the D.R.A.M.A. around website selection! Use the checklist below as a guide to evaluate websites:

Date	How recent is the information? Is the information current enough for your topic?
Relevance	Does the content of the source match your topic?
Accuracy	Are there spelling or grammar mistakes? Do the links on the webpage work properly? Does the author provide references or sources for data?
Motivation	Why did the author create this source? To inform? To sell you something? To entertain? To sway your opinion? Is the information fact or opinion? Is it biased?
Authority	Who wrote this source? What are the creator's credentials? Do they have a PhD or an advanced degree from an accredited university? Who is the publisher?

FactCheck.org
Politifact
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact researches the claims of politicians and checks their accuracy.

Snopes
Washington Post Fact Checker
Media Bias / Fact Check
Open Secrets
SciCheck
This division of Factcheck.org is specifically dedicated to fact checking science claims.

Need to fact-check something? Use these resources to find original peer-reviewed articles.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles covering all areas of study.
Multidisciplinary - good for nearly all subjects. Scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, book reviews, and more.

Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Check the story against others news articles in this library database.

AllSides
Displays the day’s top news stories from the Left, Center, and Right of the political spectrum — side-by-side so you can see the full picture.