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."
What do you know about the author, website, or organization? Are they reputable? What do others have to say about them? Read on to learn about the next three steps of the SIFT Method, which teach you how to find out.
Image source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/stop-containing-street-sign-1013732/
Become a fact checker! What do other sources say about the source of your information (such as the author, the website, or the organization) or the claim being made?
To investigate the author or their affiliations, start by Googling their name.
To investigate a claim, start by Googling it.
Practice!
Research the following source: National Vaccine Information Center
What do others have to say? Research names or people you find, other affiliations, and news stories about the organization. Wikipedia can provide a starting point, but should not be your stopping point.
Image source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/magnifying-glass-search-to-find-1020142/
When you did your fact checking in the previous step, did you find consensus among multiple reputable sources? Legitimate information should be covered by many sources and treated similarly (without extreme bias).
While you’re looking for better coverage or trying to determine some kind of consensus and you come across sources you’re not familiar with, go back a step and investigate those new sources.
Other coverage might be more in-depth, more reputable, more varied, or more current. For example, an article about U.S. airline policies and COVID-19 from a popular magazine might be fine for personal purposes, but if you're writing a research paper about that topic, a better source might be the CDC or even information directly from a specific airline's website.
When you search Google, look beyond the first few results, which can be sponsored content or ads. Businesses can pay for their sites to float up to the top, but that doesn’t make them the best resource.
Practice!
Read the following article: How Long Do COVID Vaccine Side Effects Last?
Is it the best source for the topic? Can you find a better source?
Image source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/search-to-find-internet-1013910/
Good information should link to or cite their sources, or at the very least mention sources by name. It’s not uncommon to see a news article that states, “Sources say…” or “According to a recent report…” and not mention who their sources are or where to find that recent report.
If they refer to the source they used, track it down. Was the original source accurately represented? Was it reported on fairly? This is also called framing. How is the information structured? Even the author’s word choice can affect your perception of a story.
Do you have the entire story? Was anything left out? Was it taken out of context? This is common for information that appears on social media. Because of proprietary search algorithms, the way a story is covered on your news feed might be different than how it’s covered on someone else’s. Look for the entire story. It’s so easy to take a quote out of context to misrepresent an idea.
Images, Video, and Media
These can also be altered, taken out of context, or misrepresented.
Practice!
Read the following article: The First Big Study On COVID-19 Reinfection Is Here. Here's What It Means.
Can you locate the original source of the information?
Image source: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/stairs-rise-stair-step-staircase-1014065/
Snopes.com