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https://sites.google.com/msu.edu/sift
SIFT is a set of four "moves" you can use to evaluate information. You can think of a move as a strategy, or "thing to do."
While you may typically engage in these moves in the order in which they are presented here, and you may also find yourself moving through them in a different order, or returning to a move multiple times.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Stop
Stop
Before you engage with a source
Before you engage with a source
Ask yourself questions like: What do I know about this source? Who authored it? What organization published it? Is this source coming from a person, publisher, or organization I know to be reliable?
If you can't answer these questions, use the other moves in SIFT to help you find answers.
Check your emotions
Check your emotions
In the age of the attention economy and clickbait article titles, many information producers (social media, news organizations, ect.) intentionally use sensational headlines intended to grab and keep your attention causing intense emotion.
Avoid the information rabbit hole
Avoid the information rabbit hole
Keep your fact checking objective in mind. Don't let yourself get pulled into chasing more and more obscure details. Stop and refocus your search if you need to.
Practice: Stop
Practice: Stop
What do you know about Politico.com?
What kind of website is it?
Does it have any specific political affiliations or leanings?
Is this news, commentary, something in between? What journalistic practices (if any) are being used?
What kind of emotions is this headline and thumbnail supposed to evoke?
Investigate the Source
Investigate the Source
Investigating the source just means taking a few minutes to learn more about the organization and/or individuals that produced the source.
Read Vertically (within the source)
Read Vertically (within the source)
Reading vertically is reading within the source itself. Look for things like "about" pages, author bios, mission statements to learn more about what the individual or organization. Reading vertically can help you better understand a source's purpose, and things like the expertise and ideology of the individual or organization.
Read Laterally (across multiple sources)
Read Laterally (across multiple sources)
You can't always trust what a source has to say about itself, that is why it is important to read laterally across multiple sources. What do other sources have to say about the source or organization you are evaluating? Wikipedia can be a great place to learn about an organization, news source, ect.
Practice: Investigate the Source
Practice: Investigate the Source
Read vertically:
What is the mission or goal of the National Vaccine Information Center?
What kind of information do they share?
Read horizontally:
What can you find out about the NVIC from other websites?
Find Better Coverage
Find Better Coverage
Often you will find that you care less about the publisher or author of a source, and more about the specific claims it is making. You may ask questions like:
Is this claim true or false?
Is there nuance missing in the way this claim is being presented?
Is this a consensus view point? A fringe view point? Is there still a lot of active debate about this topic?
Look for a trusted source
Look for a trusted source
Look for a trusted source that reports on or analyzes the claim. Look for something that you think will provide high quality information, or look at several sources to see if they confirm one another.
You do not have to agree with the consensus once you find it. But understanding the context and history of a claim will help you better evaluate it and form a starting point for future investigation.
Here are some useful websites for fact-checking:
Practice: Find Better Coverage
Practice: Find Better Coverage
Use Google or the library's resources to find a better source that addresses the claims made in the tweet to the left.
Trace to the Original Context
Trace to the Original Context
When you encounter a piece of information online it can be hard to evaluate it without first placing it in its original context. Fro example, politician's statements can be selectively edited to twist their words, or the findings from scientific research can be misrepresented intentionally or unintentionally. Removing information from its original context makes it harder to evaluate it. That is why you will want to trace the claims, quotes, and media you encounter back to the original source as part of your evaluation process.
Practice: Trace to the Original Context
Practice: Trace to the Original Context
Use Google or the library's resources to trace these claims to their source. Since these are scientific claims, you may want to look for scholarly articles, or articles that cite scholarly articles.
There are many claims made in this video. Just pick one to focus on.
Applying SIFT
Applying SIFT
Create your own copy of the Applying SIFT worksheet (linked below).
Then work use it to work through one of the following examples.
Example 1
Example 1
Use SIFT to evaluate the article linked on the right.
Use the SIFT worksheet to help you make the four "moves." Be prepared to share your work with the class.
Example 2
Example 2
Use SIFT to evaluate the article linked on the right.
Use the SIFT worksheet to help you make the four "moves." Be prepared to share your work with the class.
Example 3
Example 3
Use SIFT to evaluate the article linked on the right.
Use the SIFT worksheet to help you make the four "moves." Be prepared to share your work with the class.
Example 4
Example 4
Use SIFT to evaluate the article linked on the right.
Use the SIFT worksheet to help you make the four "moves." Be prepared to share your work with the class.
Example 5
Example 5
Use SIFT to evaluate the article linked on the right.
Use the SIFT worksheet to help you make the four "moves." Be prepared to share your work with the class.
Example 6
Example 6
Use SIFT to evaluate the article linked on the right.
Use the SIFT worksheet to help you make the four "moves." Be prepared to share your work with the class.
This work, "Evaluating Online Information with SIFT", is adapted from "SIFT (The Four Moves)" by Mike Caulfield, used under CC BY 4.0. "Evaluating Online Information with SIFT" is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 by Caitlin Benallack.
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