When you initially encounter a source of information and start to read it—stop. Ask yourself whether you know and trust the author, publisher, publication, or website. Don’t read, share, or use the source in your research until you know what it is, and you can verify it is reliable.
Who is the author? Are they an expert in this particular area? Do they have an agenda? Knowing the expertise and agenda of the person who created the source is crucial to your interpretation of the information provided. Do a lateral search, search across other sources, to find information on the author to examine their credibility.
See if you can find a better source (e.g. more current, more accurate, or more credible source) that might include trusted reporting or analysis on the same claim. Examine if the source represents a consensus viewpoint.
Can the claims, quotes, and media be traced back to their original sources, and are they representative of the original contexts? The people who inaccurately re-report information could be doing this simply by mistake, or, in some cases, to intentionally mislead us.
SIFT text and graphics adapted from “SIFT (The Four Moves)” by Mike Caulfield, licensed under CC BY 4.0 and from Deakin University Library's Information Technology Research Guide.