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ANTH306_Platt: Read and Evaluate

Evaluating Information

Part of what makes research challenging is that not all information is reliable or high in quality. This can even be true of academic sources. Before relying on a source, you should evaluate it. 

To evaluate, read vertically and read laterally. Here's what that means:

Vertical reading means looking quickly through the source itself. 

  • What kind of source is this? (e.g. scholarly article, newspaper article) Does this type of source match your current information need?
  • When was it published? Is it appropriately current for your purposes?

Lateral reading means looking beyond the source to learn how it fits into the bigger picture.

  • What can you determine about the author's background and credentials? Are they highly regarded in their field, or on the fringe?
  • Likewise, how does this publication fit into the wider information landscape in your area of study?
  • Are the major claims of this article backed up in other places, or are they controversial or disputed?
  • Is this an original source? If not, can you trace the claim back to an original source?

Lateral Reading (from U of Louisville Libraries)

Lateral Reading Explained

Lateral reading is paradoxically the act of NOT reading a website in order to examine and investigate the website's content and information. Fact checkers, people who are paid to determine a website's bias and truthfulness, employ lateral reading techniques. Instead of determining a website's credibility through vertical reading (often through a CRAAP test); looking for date of publication, authorship, domain name, and bias, fact checkers quickly leave the site and open up new tabs in their browser to look for what others have said about the website being examined.

Lateral readers pay little attention to how the site appears, instead they quickly leap off a site and open new tabs. They investigate a site by leaving it.

source: Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2017). Lateral reading: Reading less and learning more when evaluating digital information.

 

Strategies for Reading Laterally

A strategy called SIFT can help you evaluate a source by looking OUTSIDE the source itself.

SIFT stands for:

  • STOP: Assess what you know about the source. If it is from a creator/site that are unfamiliar to you or if  you aren't sure it is reliable, continue with the other steps.

  • INVESTIGATE: Do some quick research into the website, organization, or creator to learn more about where this information is coming from, and what the purpose/agenda might be.

  • FIND: Seek out additional, trusted coverage of the same information. Do sources you already know to be reliable back up the information from this source?

  • TRACE: Is the source you are examining the originator of the information? If it came from somewhere else, trace the claim to the original source. You may find additional, important context.