How to Evaluate News Sources

Bad information thrives, often alongside the good and the great. Unfortunately, there's nothing to alert the public to phony, false, or misleading information--except for your own skepticism, education, and evaluation skills.

We all get overwhelmed when it comes to sorting through all the news flooding our feeds and televisions so we've assembled some tools to help sort through the noise.

Step 1: Know what to look for by reading through the definitions below.

Step 2: Use an evaluation model to determine the reliability of the information. We recommend the 5Ws or the IFLA's How to Spot Fake News linked on the left.

Step 3: Search for news in our databases. You'll have the tools to fact-check at your fingertips!

Step 4: Still not sure about a fact? Use a fact-checking website. We've linked to some great ones in the Fact-Checkers tab.