Pumerantz Library Research Guides
Research Assistance, Subject Guides, & Useful Resources
Fake News: Evaluating Information
- This guide discusses the issue of fake news.
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Evaluating Information
The ability to evaluate information is an important life skill, in addition to being a key component of evidence-based medicine and evidence-based practice. As a student, staff, or faculty member of WesternU, you have access to our online resources - that can make finding reliable sources of medical information a lot easier! But, what about in your daily life? What about when you graduate? How can you evaluate your information then?
The information below is helpful for performing your own searches outside of academic databases, but they're also useful skills to impart onto your patients - they don't have the clinical knowledge to recognize fake medical news or advice when they see it.
Fact-checking
Check Credentials
Is the author specialized in the field that the aticle is concerned with? Does s/he currently work in that field? Check LinkedIn or do a quick Google search to see if the author is actually qualified to speak about the subject with authority and accuracy
Look for bias
Is the article leaning toward a particular point of view? Does it link to sites, files, or images that seem to skew to the right or left? Biased articles are more interested in convincing you that their stance sis right than with providing accurate information. This means they may not be giving you the whole story.
Check the sources
Check the sources that the article cites. Sometimes if you look closer at an official sounding association, you might find that it's an incredibly biased think tank or that it represents a fringe view of a large group of people. If you can't find sources in the article, try to find other articles on the topic so you can get a feel for what the established knowledge is. Then you can decide for yourself if the article is accurate or not.
Check the dates
Information can go bad - if your article is a few months old, a lot might have changed since it was written. Try to find more up to date information (Note: while this often true for news articles, it does not apply as strictly to academic articles and other research)
Judge Hard
If what you're reading seems too good be true, too weird, or too reactionary - it probably is. Try to find some other sources so you can compare!
Avoid Fake News
Check the source
Is it a .com? .org? .edu or .gov? Is the source from a Google search or did you use an academic database? (to learn more about searching, look at our Deep Web or Google Better research guides)
Use the CRAAP test
Currency Relevance Accuracy Authority Purpose
Question Everything
Does the site have ads? Is the source from a think tank or nonprofit that has a stake in the subject of the article? What's the author's background?
Is it a sales pitch?
Is the article advocating the use of a product...while also selling that same product?
Check the links
Do they actually lead to information that verifies something in the article? Do they go to domains outside the current website? Is the author taking any information deliberately out of context so that it appears to support their point, when in reality it doesn't?