Workplace Communication & Professional Research Guide

Vetting Online Content and Fact Checking Claims

Whenever you encounter a piece of information, take five minutes to check the credibility of the source or claim you want to use – your professional reputation depends on it!

One quick and simple method you should use is called SIFT. It’s informed by years of research conducted by information literacy researchers Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg, authors of Verified, an excellent book on checking information for accuracy.

The SIFT Method

Adapted from Verified, Chapter One: “Get Quick Context”

*Images and icons adapted from Mike Caulfield’s website.

Stop and Reflect

When you find a source, stop and answer these questions first: 

  • Do I know what I’m looking at?
  • What do I already know about the source, its reputation, and the topic it covers? 

For example, do you know whether you’re looking at an opinion piece or a news article? 

News articles in papers like The Wall Street Journal go through rigorous fact-checking and editing processes. In other words, these articles adhere to journalistic standards of accuracy and neutrality. Opinion essays, editorials, press releases, and content marketing do not adhere to these standards. They receive little or no fact checking and may contain false claims or heavily slanted view points.  

Once you know what type of source you’re looking at, ask: 

  • What’s my initial reaction to this source and the information in it? 
  • Do I have a bias toward or against the claims in the source?
  • Why do I think the claim or source is credible, and what new information could change my mind? 

Investigate the Source 

Hover over the author’s name for more details or review the author’s profile. If this information is not provided, do a quick search on the author to check their credentials and reputation and review their social media. The term “author” refers to different types of content creators, not just creators of written text. 

Answer these questions:

  • Is the author a professional or a researcher with years of experience in the field they are discussing? 
  • Or,  is the author’s experience mainly creating general content for websites? 

While credible experts or journalists may write opinion/op-ed essays, keep in mind that these essays are not fact checked like reported news articles, which means they are more likely to contain false claims or misleading information.  

In addition to investigating the author, investigate whether the publisher is trustworthy by lateral reading, or searching for what other sources have to say about it. Wikipedia can be a good resource to learn more about a publisher. Other helpful resources include the All Sides Bias Checker and the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart for popular sources and Journal Citation Reports and Scopus Preview for scholarly sources. 

When investigating the publisher, answer these questions: 

  • Is this a company who has a vested interest in the content? Or is it an independent publisher such as a media company with a reputation for accuracy like The Economist?
  • Do other sources you trust raise questions about this source and its biases?

Find Better Coverage and Context for the Information and Claims

Search for other credible sources–like news articles, trade articles, or podcasts produced by professional organizations–that have presented the same information and/or claims in the source. 

Finding other sources can help you understand the context and history of the claims and evaluate the source in question. To find other sources, it’s helpful to understand how to do a targeted Boolean search.   

To find more context for claims, you can also use websites dedicated to debunking false claims like Politifact, FactCheck.org, and Snopes. 

When trying to find more context, answer these questions: 

  • What other credible sources have published on the same topic/information?
  • Do those sources confirm or dispute the information and/or claims in the source?
  • Is the source recently published?  Credible resources publish regularly.

*Readers usually expect sources to be published within the last three years, depending on the topic and field.  Some older sources can be credible if you show how it continues to be relevant and influential for your field. 

Trace Claims, Quotes, and Media to their Original Context

When the source cites other sources, like an expert, a study, or a news article, locate those cited sources. 

Answer these questions: 

  • Does the source represent its cited sources fairly and accurately? 
  • Does the information and evidence cited for a claim actually support the claim being made in the source? 

To pass the SIFT test, information and claims must appear in a source that uses quality evidence ethically, receives outside validation by other credible sources, and doesn’t exist solely to sell a product. In addition to assessing the credibility of information, professionals must also assess the credibility of the source as a whole.

Exercise Caution with Search Engines

The SIFT process depends on effective use of search engines. Search engines are useful tools, but remember that they’re always trying to maximize user engagement by giving users what they want based on their search terms.

As Caulfield and Wineburg explain in Verified, “Google is not a dispassionate partner in information seeking who diligently corrects you when you’ve taken a wrong turn. Google is out to please, trying to determine what you want—even if doing so means giving you a dubious answer but one you want to hear.”

Use neutral search terms and multiple tools to diversify results:

Whatever search tool you are using, make sure it provides references you can check; never rely on AI overviews when accuracy matters.

Similar to Wikipedia, AI can provide a good overview of a topic, and give you a sense of what type of research is available. Unfortunately, at this time, using research directly suggested by AI is risky given well-documented issues with hallucinated sources, including those found during “deep research” sessions.