Media Literacy

The term Lateral Reading was coined by Sam Wineburg and Sarah McGrew in their 2019 study, "Lateral Reading and the Nature of Expertise", on internet source evaluation techniques. The strategy of Lateral Reading employed by expert fact checkers involves opening a new browser tab to evaluate a source based on information from other trusted sources, rather than evaluating the source itself for accuracy or credibility. Lateral reading is similar to Triangulation but focuses more on evaluating the source of the information rather than the information itself.

Step 1. Open a new browser tab

Search for information about the company or website. Tip: To exclude results from the website itself, use the -site operator. For example "News Target" -site:https://newstarget.com

Step 2. What do other sources say about the website

Wikipedia and established news outlets such as New York Times and Wall Street Journal have standards for reliability and fact checking.

Step 3. Find out who runs a site

Other source evaluation techniques suggest visiting a website's "About" page. This page is usually written to favorably represent the what the purpose of the website. You can use a domain lookup tool like ICANN Lookup to find out who a website is registered to.

Step 4. Evaluate claims/evidence

Use fact checking sites such as Snopes or others listed on this guide to fact check. If claims are proceeded by "research indicates", search for research articles on Articles+ or Google Scholar.

Questions to ask about a source

• Who is behind the information?
• What are their intentions?
• What type of information are they creating?
• What is the evidence?