Learn & teach the “magical” fact-checking method known as SIFT

Facilitated by: Sarah Lehmann and Marianne Harris, ARC Library

Many of us have taught students to evaluate websites with a checklist, such as whether the URL ends in .com or .edu, the author’s stated credentials, or the date it was updated. But recent research from Stanford University suggests that there is a more effective method to teach website evaluation: “lateral reading,” which means to open new tabs and search for evidence from other sources, rather than remaining on the website and attempting to evaluate it from within. Professional fact-checkers use this method to quickly determine if online info is credible. Information scientist Mike Caulfield has developed a lateral reading method for students called SIFT:

Educators have described the SIFT method as “magical” - it gives students a concrete toolkit they can use to quickly determine whether there is good evidence for a claim. Join ARC librarians to learn how to use and teach the SIFT method.