BLUF
The Eugene Public Library provides a guide to evaluating the credibility of online sources—you should always check the source and factual reliability of anything you find on the web.Summary
Anybody can create a news web page, and thousands do just that. Fake news is all over the web. Before using anything from the web, you should always check the web source using tools such as Media Bias. The following from the Eugene Public Library recommends the following steps before using material from the web:
- ‘Consider the source. Click away from the story to investigate the site, its mission and its contact info.
- Read beyond the headline. Headlines can be outrageous in effort to get clicks. Go beyond headlines.
- Check the author. Do a quick Google search on the author. Are they credible?
- Determine if sources support the story. Click those links. Determine if the subsequent info actually supports the story.
- Check the date.
- Consider that it might be satire. If it seems too outlandish, it might be satire.
- Check your biases.'
