Social Work Policy Research

Lateral Reading

Some of the most credible websites are .com (New York Times, Wall Street Journal), while biased and partisan groups may have websites ending in .org. Don't only rely on the website domain (.com, .gov, .edu, or .org) to determine the credibility of the website.  Lateral reading is a method used by professional fact-checkers to determine a source's credibility.

Steps for Lateral Reading:

• Open new tabs and search for information about the website you're reading from Wikipedia or credible news sources.
• Look for information about the mission, funding, and potential biases.
• Go beyond the news story and look for the original resource or other scholarly information using Library resources.

Fact Checking

The websites linked below fact-check information that appears in news articles and websites.

Resources for Further Reading