Head of Science and Engineering Public Services and Collections
What is Triangulation?
Source triangulation is the act of cross checking information across multiple sources, often consulting different types of media or information. It is very similar to Lateral Reading in that information is verified by external sources. Triangulation focuses on comparing and validating information from multiple independent sources.
How to use Triangulation
Step 1: Identify the information you want to evaluate.
- What are the claims?
Step 2: Find multiple independent sources on the topic.
- Use trusted news sources, government, information, peer reviewed research, fact checking sites, and available data
- Identify bias and perspective of sources
Step 3: Check sources for inconsistencies and discrepancies
Additional Resources
Joyce Valenza 44. “Truth, Truthiness, Triangulation: A News Literacy Toolkit for a ‘Post-Truth’ World.” Neverending Search (blog), November 26, 2016.
Cooke, Nicole A. “Posttruth, Truthiness, and Alternative Facts: Information Behavior and Critical Information Consumption for a New Age.” The Library Quarterly 87, no. 3 (July 2017): 211–21.
Wijnhoven, Fons, and Michel Brinkhuis. “Internet Information Triangulation: Design Theory and Prototype Evaluation.” Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 66, no. 4 (April 1, 2015): 684–701.