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Research Help

Use this guide to help you navigate the research process from start to finish.

Resource evaluation is a huge part of successful research. Using a method like SIFT gives us a structure of what to look for, and how to find it. Learning to read information like a fact checker will save you time and energy, and give you the best results when doing research for your future assignments! Use the box below to learn more about each step of the SIFT method! 

Stop

When researching, it can sometimes be hard to tell if a website or article is accurate. To help start the SIFT process, the best thing to do is STOP! Think before you share, and ask yourself these questions: 

  1. Do you recognize the source providing you with the information? Is it one that is trusted amongst information professionals? 
  2. Did you have a strong emotional reaction to the information? Sometimes we can share information prematurely if it's a topic we are passionate about.

If you feel you need to investigate the source further, follow the rest of the SIFT process!

 

Why Stop? 

In 2017, two Stanford University Graduate School of Education students did a study that put students, Ph.D. historians, and professional fact-checkers in front of two sources, and they had 5 minutes to figure out which source would be the better source. Many of the students and Ph.D. historians got it wrong, but 100% of the fact-checkers got it right, and got it right quickly! Stopping and using the SIFT system helped the fact checkers succeed in the study! 

“What the bad actors want is your attention,” he said. “They believe that the longer they can get you to stay on the page, the easier it is to suck you into their vortex.” Sam Wineburg, founder of the SHEG and the study's lead author.

 

Helpful Resources: 

 

Watch the video to learn more below: 

Find Better Coverage

This step in SIFT gets us searching to try and find supporting information to help strengthen or weaken the first source's claims. Another name for this is called Lateral Reading! 

Lateral Reading is the process of reading across the internet to try to prove or disprove the claims of various sources. Moving off of the original source, and searching for related keywords can help us quickly identify if other sources are writing about the same things as our first source. If we find information that supports the claims of our original source, that is a good sign! You can also use Lateral Reading to find information about authors/creators, the company that owns the website, and any information you are hoping to fact-check! 

To get started: 

  • Open a new tab
  • Use Google to search for things like
    • Headline
    • Author/Creator
    • Company/Website
  • Compare our Google search results with the information provided in the original source 

 

Why Find Better Coverage and Lateral Read? 

This process helps us not only find better information, but it gives us the skills to quickly analyze the information we see online. Learning to read laterally, and find coverage of various topics will enhance your research skills for both academic and personal research! Next time you see something said on TikTok or a link shared online, you will have the skills to analyze the accuracy of the claims. 

The video below from Crash Course gives a great introduction to Lateral Reading! 

Investigate 

After you have stopped absorbing information from the original source, and have decided to analyze critically, we need to do some investigating! 

Find key details from the original source such as: 

  • The headline of the source
  • Claims being made by the source
  • Author of source
  • Company/Website details 

Ask yourself these questions to help get you started:  

  1. Who published the resource? News organization? Government agency? Internet Blogger? Podcast Host? 
  2. Does the author have the authority to be writing on this topic? If you are unclear, you will want to look that person up!

 

How to Investigate? 

When we start to investigate, what are some things you can look for? Well, we need to look for things like: 

  • Credibility of Authors
    • Does it list an author? If so, can you see the other types of articles they have written? Does it list any qualifications or credentials?
  • Accuracy of Information Provided
    • Are they making wild or serious claims, but not backing them up with explanations or citing other sources? 
  • Presence of Bias
    • Are they displaying a political bias? Do they tend to only write or share information that seems one-sided? 
  • Quality of References and Citations Used 
    • What sources are they citing? Do they link to original sources, or opinion articles that are already analyzing the information? 

If any of these things are unclear or require more research, that is what you will use in the next step of SIFT! 

Trace Sources 

Now that we have stopped, investigated our source, and found better coverage, we need to trace everything back to our original! If we found evidence during our Lateral Reading that we feel supports the claims in our original source, then we need to verify the information. We can do this by: 

  • Double-check any statistics or quantitative information used in the sources, and make sure it wasn't taken out of context of the source it's cited from. 
  • Match information found in our Lateral Reading results to the information we have from the original source 
  • Look into each reference or citation listed in the original source. 
  • Make sure they are not taking any information out of context from sources they are referencing 

Remember: If you find information from your Lateral Reading that does not support the claims made in the original source, that is often a red flag! Not very often is one source the only news outlet to write about something, especially if they are claiming it is a big deal/breaking news.