📋 Student Information
Fill in your information below. Your section number is the four digits that appear after the course number.
Example: HIST C1001-1234 → Course: HIST C1001 | Section: 1234
🔍 What is Lateral Reading?
Lateral reading is a strategy used by fact checkers to quickly and effectively evaluate online sources. Rather than staying on an unfamiliar website to assess its credibility, you leave the source and search for information about it using other trusted sources.
When you encounter an unfamiliar source making a claim about history, you don't evaluate it by reading more of what it says about itself. Instead, you open new tabs and search for what other credible sources say about this source. This helps you determine: Who is behind it? Are they an authority? What is their perspective?
- Who created this source? What organization or person is behind it?
- What is their authority? Are they qualified to speak knowledgeably about history?
- What is their perspective? Why might they present information in a particular way?
- What do other credible sources say about this source? Is it trusted by historians, journalists, and scholars?
1 Evaluating Source 1: Instagram Post
Before you start: Do not evaluate this source by staying on Instagram. Your job is to leave the post and use lateral reading to investigate who's behind this account and what other sources say about it.
2 Evaluating Source 2: News Website
Before you start: Don't stop at the "About" page on the website itself. Use lateral reading to find what other credible sources say about this news organization and its coverage of history.