• Snopes is probably the most trusted online fact-checking website. It has been verifying the accuracy online information since the dawn of the Internet.
• Politifact is a well-known fact-checker that specializes in determining the accuracy of politicians' statements and arguments.
• Factcheck.org is another trusted non-profit, non-partisan fact-checking organization.
• Whois can help you determine who registered a particular domain. This can be helpful when you want to find out who owns a website.

Reading laterally or lateral reading can help you find out if the source you're reading is credible. To learn more about this strategy visit the guide, "Evaluating Online Information".

Try these steps when you encounter different sources of information:

• When you find information from a source you haven't encountered before, do some research about the source BEFORE deciding whether you should listen to anything the source has to say.
• Try to determine a consensus about the source by researching it using Google and Wikipedia. You can search for any of the following key components:
  • Publication (Usually best)
  • Funding organization (Can often be found in the website's "about" page)
  • Author
  • Content (Cut-and-paste the title of the website into Google)
• Read a minimum of 3 to 5 new sources to see what they have to say about your original source.
• If you can't find 3 to 5 sources, that is information in itself. It means your original source doesn't have an established reputation. Proceed with caution.
• Once you determine a consensus from these new sources, make a judgment call about the original source's trustworthiness.

Here are a few simple steps you can practice when looking at unverified source.

STOP Before you start to read, ask what you know about the source or information it contains.

INVESTIGATE If you don't know the source and can't verify it, open up Google or another search platform and do a little more research on the information and source, itself. 

FIND trusted coverage or more information from multiple different sources to a quick confirmation that the original source is reporting the right information. Finding more information from a variety of valid sources, such as Washington Post or local news channels can help you confirm the post or source is true or at least that it's valid.

TRACE any claims, references, quotes back to the original source or study. Especially if it's a meme or video with no other information attached, it's helpful to find the context of how or where the source came about. 

(SIFT was originally created by Mike Caulfield, an educator in digital technology and director of Washington State's Blended and Networked Learning program.)