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ENG 151 - SIFT Method for Evaluating Sources (Dual Credit)

This guide explains how to use the SIFT Method for evaluating sources. SIFT stands for Stop, Investigate the claim, Find better coverage, and Trace back to the original source.

Introduction

With the amount of fake news and continuous advertisements present in the current news cycle, many find it increasingly harder to decipher what is true and what is not. This lack of information literacy can have real world consequences like in voting outcomes and policy making. This guide is intended to provide you with resources you can use to help you evaluate sources, whether it’s potential fake news or a source for a research paper.

Directions: Click through each of the yellow tabs on the left to learn about the research process, how to use the SIFT Method to evaluate information, see some examples, and learn about formats and sources of information. At the end, answer some questions to test your knowledge!

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What is the SIFT Method?

The SIFT Method is a series of actions you can take in order to determine the validity and reliability of claims and sources on the web. Each letter in “SIFT” corresponds to one of the “Four Moves."