EVALUATING SOURCES

Lateral Reading

To evaluate sources, we need to use a strategy called "Lateral Reading." When you read laterally, instead of staying on the website you're evaluating, you open up other sites and tabs to research that site. You find information in a lateral direction rather than reading down the page you started with (vertically).

For an quick introduction to this idea, watch this short video:

Sort Fact From Fiction Online (Civic Online Reasoning, Stanford History Education Group, 3:47)

This longer video is also helpful:

Navigating Digital Information - YouTube (John Green Crash Course videos, 13:51) 

Do you use OPVCL in your History class? Here's how to think about the parts of OPVCL so that you can incorporate the Lateral Reading strategy:

OPVCL

Lateral reading: O and P

Vertical reading: C

Your judgment: V and L

Resources & activities for students:

Bad-News-Game-info-sheet-for-educators-English.pdf and Get Bad News game

Factitious News Game Pandemic Edition game

Fakeout – CIVIX News Literacy game

GHS Library Current Events & News page Includes a short video for how to access news sources through the state library’s databases.

*Lateral Reading (University of Louisville, 3:33)* This is a great introduction video for students.

Navigating Digital Information - YouTube (John Green Crash Course videos, 13:51) Longer video but entertaining. Part of a great series.

SIFT (The Four Moves) 

Resources for Teaching Lateral Reading, Recognizing Misinformation, & Evaluating Web Sources

Background articles:

Enough With the CRAAP Test (SLJ)

Fake News: It’s Complicated 

Getting Beyond the CRAAP Test (Inside HigherEd)

Misinformation Week (The 74) 

Reimagining Digital Literacy Education to Save Ourselves (Learning for Justice)

Understanding Information Disorder (First Draft News)

Resources & Lesson Plans for teachers:

A Little of Everything | Civic Online Reasoning from the Stanford History Education Group

Checkology Lesson: Evaluating Evidence Online from the News Literacy Project (see below)

“Fake News,” Misinformation & Disinformation from Temple University

Four Moves: Adventures in Fact Checking for Students a blog that regularly posts questionable sites and postings that you can use as examples

Framework For Teaching News Literacy from News Literacy Project

Intro to Lateral Reading | Civic Online Reasoning from the Stanford History Education Group

Teaching Media Literacy Tips from the Reboot Foundation