Quality Information Sources
Quality Information Sources
When trying to determine whether or not an information resource is reliable, look for the essential features of credible publications.
Keep in mind that no single resource is perfect. All publications make mistakes or choose to focus coverage on one issue as opposed to another. Engaging with a variety of credible resources ensures that you’re getting the information you need.
Publish Original Work Regularly
Check to see that the resource regularly publishes original work or does original reporting. Look for recent article or post dates. For example, look at any of the home pages of our list of major newspapers; they all have articles with today’s date. Resources that don’t date material or don’t publish regularly are usually less credible.
Some sites simply aggregate or repost work from credible resources. Here is an example of an article that simply paraphrases reporting from another site. In addition, popular podcasters and youtubers often discuss the news or recently published research. When resources like this refer to an original article, don’t just rely on someone’s take on it. Trace claims and information back to the original context.
Receive Outside Validation
Check the resource on at least two sites that evaluate popular media for reliability and biases:
- Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart
- Media Bias | AllSides
- Media Bias/Fact Check
- For scholarly sources, see Journal Citation Reports and Scopus Preview
You can also check whether other publications you trust have raised questions about this publication or its biases. For publications relevant to your field, look in trade publications and/or professional organization websites/blogs/newsletters, and magazines and newspapers, to see if they’ve recommended or mentioned your resource.
For additional validation, you might search the resource’s name in the UW-Madison Libraries search bar. While it’s not a perfect proxy for quality, inclusion in the library’s databases suggests a publication has some editorial integrity.
Use Quality Evidence Consistently
Examine how the resource uses evidence in recently published content.
Are they interviewing experts and linking to articles or reports from credible organizations? For example, a recent Wall Street Journal article on AI literacy cites a scholarly study from the Journal of Marketing.
Do they receive prestigious journalism awards? ProPublica, an independent, non-profit investigative journalism site, has received extensive recognition.
Do they send reporters to witness events where they take place? Organizations like CNN and the New York Times operate news bureaus across the globe.
Do they gather data by conducting original research? Pew Research Center, for instance, offers information based on rigorous polling.
Keep in mind that any one piece of content can look better and follow higher standards for evidence than the average coverage that the resource provides. Examine multiple articles/posts and use a couple of the above strategies to confirm credibility.
Use a Fact-Checking Process and Acknowledge Mistakes
Check whether the resource has a fact-checking process they apply to every article. Systematic fact-checking reduces the likelihood of incorrect facts and claims appearing in a publication’s articles. For example, The Washington Post’s editorial policy discusses its rules for fact-checking and avoiding conflicts of interest.
Look for evidence that the resource issues corrections. For example, The New York Times maintains a page with recent corrections and a searchable archive of all corrections.
Cost Money
Determine the source type and check for paywalls and subscription fees. Quality resources/publications used to provide a lot of valuable information for free online; that is no longer the case. It’s expensive to send people to witness events and interview those affected by those events. It’s cheap to have opinions and post them online; on the internet, you get what you pay for. Exceptions exist, like the publicly-funded NPR and the nonprofit news outlet ProPublica, but they use alternate funding models and donations, not ads-only support, to produce quality reporting.
To gain access to articles behind paywalls, use our library databases; if our library doesn’t own a resource/publication, place an interlibrary loan request. The ILL system will often email you a pdf of the article in a few days.