Evaluate Information Sources

We live in an information society where we are inundated with so many print, digital, visual, audio, and visual pieces of information, that we often don't know where to begin. Regardless of medium, we must always first determine if and how we can actual USE a source! 

What information should you look for?

• Publication - is it academic, peer-reviewed, user-generated content, newspaper or magazine? Do a quick Wikipedia search to learn more about the publication. 
• Author - who are they, and do they have the credentials or lived-experience to speak authoritatively on this topic. Why should we trust this person?
• Date - Is this the most, or one of the most recent/ timely sources available on this topic or subject? Does the date help you understand an historic perspective? Is your topic or field ever-changing, or slow to change?

Check out these great videos on lateral reading and basic fact checking from Stanford's, Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum.