Digital Literacy
Media Literacy
⇨Use lateral reading to help evaluate online sources by determining:
- who is behind the info?
- what is the evidence?
- what do other sources say?
⇨Read laterally by opening other tabs and going outside of a website to other sites, which can be:
- Wikipedia
- fact-checking sites (PolitiFact, Snopes, FactCheck.org)
- news outlets
⇨Show click-restraint: don't click on the first result you see! Results are not listed in order of credibility, but rather the top results are often written or sponsored by the organization you're investigating.
⇨Lateral reading can be done alongside vertical reading (scrolling through the original source to analyze it); just beware that the "About" and "FAQ" pages are controlled by the content creators.
⇨Keep in mind perspective: does this source include multiple perspectives? Are there any voices missing from the conversation?
⇨Check out these useful videos:
- Sort Fact from Fiction Online with Lateral Reading
- How to Use Wikipedia Wisely
- John Green / Crash Course: Navigating Digital Information
(Adapted from: Civic Online Reasoning and Jennifer Hubert Swan - Upper School Librarian, Hackley School)