The Research Process

Evaluating information you find online: 

When you are looking for information online don't take the information you are learning as fact. 

Take a moment when you find new information and check to see if these claims are verified anywhere else. Open a new window or tab and perform a new search with information you have gathered. Can this information be validated by other sources?

When researching online ask yourself these questions:

• Who wrote this? Why are they qualified to present information on this topic? Is this a personal page or does it belong to a larger organization?

• Why would someone want this information available online?

• What are the motives of the author, sponsor or the publisher of this information?

• Are there signs of bias?

• Is the information current?

• Can the information (including quotations and statistics) be verified by other sources?

• When in doubt look for a different website

• Keep in mind that search terms matter.  Each set of keywords will bring up a different set of search results, change your search if you need to

Keep an eye out for misleading websites like highly partisan news, clickbait and satire

A list of a few Non-partisan Fact Checking Sites