Evaluating Online Information

When misinformation obscures the truth and readers don’t know what to trust, Snopes’ fact-checking and original, investigative reporting lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis. We always link to and document our sources so readers are empowered to do independent research and make up their own minds.

A nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute for Media studies in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the Tampa Bay Times (then the St. Petersburg Times), with reporters and editors from the newspaper and its affiliated news media partners reporting on the accuracy of statements made by elected officials, candidates, their staffs, lobbyists, interest groups and others involved in U.S. politics. (description from wikipedia)

A Project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, factcheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. Factcheck.org monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

Fact Checker feature of the Washington Post Newspaper run by journalist and former diplomat Glenn Kessler.

Duke University's Reporter's Lab of the Sanford School of Public Policy maintains this database global fact-checking organizations.

The Research engagement and Scholarship Librarians at Eastern are available for your questions and consultation regarding any information you find.
"Our training is around knowing how to evaluate information and knowing how to understand where information came from. And we spend time organizing information to put it into proper context. This is another big challenge of information today is it's so decontextualized, because Google lets you get a piece of information here, a piece of information there. And even if it's not meant to be fake information, it can be put together in ways that might be misleading." - Karen Diaz, in: Films Media Group. (2018). Fake news: Part 2. Films On Demand.