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Source Evaluation

This guide provides information to help you use lateral reading and the SIFT method to assess sources. It includes an evaluation activity to help apply these methods using the source of your choosing.

Check Yourself with Lateral Reading (14 minute video)

SIFT (The Four Moves)
Read an overview of SIFT by Mike Caulfield on his blog.
Civic Online Reasoning
Learn more about lateral reading from the Stanford History Education Group.
Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers
An open-source textbook that was written by Mike Caulfield about how to do SIFT (The Four Moves)
CTRL+F
A project by CIVIX and funded by the Canadian government to teach digital literacy skills. It contains videos from Mike Caulfield and Jane Lytvynekno.
News Literacy Project
The News Literacy Project is a non-profit organization whose goal is to fight misinformation. It was founded by Alan Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
Checkology from The News Literacy Project
Get lesson plans for teaching students how to evaluate sources.

Last Updated: Nov 21, 2025 2:58 PM
URL: https://libguides.mnsu.edu/sourcecredibility
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Subjects: About Library Research, Foundations of Writing & Rhetoric

Source Evaluation

Check Yourself with Lateral Reading (14 minute video)

Further Reading