Skip to Main Content

Evaluating Websites: Lateral Reading

Fact check like a pro by using lateral reading techniques.

Readings

OER Textbook

Caulfield, Mike. Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers. 2017. Open Textbook Library, open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/454. Accessed 13 June 2022.

Ebook

Carillo, Ellen C. MLA Guide to Digital Literacy. New York City, Modern Language Association of America, 2019. MLA Handbook Plus, mlahandbookplus.org/books/book/7/MLA-Guide-to-Digital-Literacy. Accessed 13 June 2022.

News Coverage, Articles, Research Studies, and Book Chapters

Berkman, Robert. "When Online Fact-Checking Is a Trap: The Weaponization of Media Literacy." Online Searcher, vol. 45, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2021. Gale OneFile: Business, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A654815368/GPS?u=lincclin_pbcc&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=564eff28. Accessed 13 June 2022.

Breakstone, Joel, et al. "Why We Need a New Approach to Teaching Digital Literacy: To Assess the Credibility of the Information They Find Online, Students Shouldn't Start with a Close Reading of the Given Website. Rather, They Should Turn to the Power of the Web to Determine Its Trustworthiness." Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 99, no. 6, Mar. 2018, p. 27. Gale in Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A538859251/GPS?u=lincclin_pbcc&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=67dc05af. Accessed 13 June 2022.

---. "Lateral Reading: College Students Learn to Critically Evaluate Internet Sources in an Online Course." Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, 23 Feb. 2021, https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-56. Accessed 13 June 2022.

Brodsky, Jessica E., et al. "Improving College Students' Fact-checking Strategies through Lateral Reading Instruction in a General Education Civics Course." Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, vol. 6, no. 1, 31 Mar. 2021. Gale Academic OneFile, https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00291-4. Accessed 10 June 2021.

Carillo, Ellen C. "Surveying the Conversation by Reading Laterally." MLA Guide to Digital Literacy, New York City, Modern Language Association of America, 2019. MLA Handbook Plus, mlahandbookplus.org/books/book/7/chapter/75697/Surveying-the-Conversation-by-Reading-Laterally. Accessed 13 June 2022.

Fielding, Jennifer A. "Rethinking CRAAP: Getting Students Thinking like Fact-checkers in Evaluating Web Sources." College & Research Libraries News, vol. 80, no. 11, 5 Dec. 2019, pp. 620-22. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.80.11.620. Accessed 13 June 2022.

"How to Spot Misinformation Online." Consumer Reports, vol. 85, no. 11, Nov. 2020, p. 19. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=a9h&AN=145768155&site=ehost-live&custid=pbcc. Accessed 13 June 2022.

Supiano, Beckie. "Students Fall for Misinformation Online. Is Teaching Them to Read like Fact Checkers the Solution?" Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 65, no. 32, 10 May 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=a9h&AN=136864667&site=ehost-live&custid=pbcc. Accessed 13 June 2022.

Wineburg, Sam, et al. "Educating for Misunderstanding: How Approaches to Teaching Digital Literacy Make Students Susceptible to Scammers, Rogues, Bad Actors, and Hate Mongers." Stanford History Education Group, Stanford U, 2020. Stanford Digital Repository, Stanford University, purl.stanford.edu/mf412bt5333. Accessed 13 June 2022. Working paper.

Wineburg, Sam, and Nadav Ziv. "Op-Ed: Why Can't a Generation That Grew up Online Spot the Mininformation in Front of Them?" Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2020. Points of View Reference Center, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=pwh&AN=2W6961230073&site=eds-live&custid=pbcc. Accessed 13 June 2022.