False, fake or misleading information can have serious real-life consequences.
In November 2016, misleading news sites reported a conspiracy theory that Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington was operating a child sex ring in its basement with help from the Democratic Party. The conspiracy theory was false, and the pizza place did not even have a basement. Though many legitimate news sites reported that the story was false, some adhered to the conspiracy theory, including a gunman who entered and fired shots inside the restaurant claiming he wanted to "self-investigate" the story.
Luckily, no one was hurt, but stories like these show the importance of thinking critically and evaluating sources of information.
Verifying information you find through social media or Google requires a bit of detective work, especially if you don't know much about the topic. The sites below can help you check the accuracy of the information you find online.
With so many news sources available today, it's hard to decide which news sources to trust. In the video below, Damon Brown explains how news is produced and how readers can tell opinions from facts and non-facts.
Brown, D [TED-Ed]. (2014, June 5). How to choose your news - Damon Brown. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Y-z6HmRgI.
Evaluating sources is not a black or white process. Sources are usually not either "good" or "bad" though there are sources that the majority would agree are better or worse to use than others.
How you plan on using information also matters. Something you would share online with friends is not necessarily a source to use for an academic paper.
Using the CRAAPP Detector can help you think critically about sources. Some of the criteria will be more or less important depending on how you plan to use the information.
Currency: how current is the information?
Relevance: does the source satisfy my information needs?
Authority: who created the information?
Accuracy: how accurate is the information?
Purpose: why was the information created?
Process: what effort went into creating the information?