Home Page: Tools for Fact Checking and Web Evaluation

5 W's of Website Evaluation Worksheet

Google Doc with Remote Passwords for databases

Issues & Controversies - login - shadyside  password - ssalibrary

Britannica Image Quest - login ssa   password - ssa

 Gale - login - ssa   password - ssa

Ebsco -   Username: ssamiddle     Password: middlessa1!

Characteristics of Reputable Newspapers

• publishes accurate content; checks facts, and if errors are made, corrects them
• uses reputable sources (people, documentation) and verifies those sources
• presents headlines which accurately represent the article content
• clearly identifies authors with bylines
• produces its own content; doesn't merely aggregate content from other sources
• clearly identifies content types (e.g. report vs. editorial)
• conducts reporting not just editorializing
• journalists follow the profession's code of ethics
  • Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics, 

Click on image to Sign up for the New York Times

Once signed, access with SSA email

TO DO - Click on links

1.  Satire - "The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues."  - Oxford Language Dictionary

2. Clickbait -  "Internet content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page." Oxford Language Dictionary  

To Do

Confirmation Bias - Our subconscious tendency to seek and interpret information and other evidence in ways that affirm our existing beliefs, ideas, and expectations.  We seek out information or news that confirms our beliefs and ideas.

Monkey Business Illusion

Clickbait Title Generator

Fake Newspaper Generator

Disinformation Sites - Sites that are designed to look like real news outlets. Sites created to mislead and disseminate false information.
Misleading News - These are the hardest to debunk because they often contain a kernel of truth: A fact, event, or quote that has been taken out of context. Look for sensational headlines that aren't supported by the information in the article.
Highly Partisan News - A type of misleading news, this may be an interpretation of a real news event where the facts are manipulated to fit an agenda.
Clickbait - Sensational and shocking headlines to influence the reader into clicking for more information that may or may not be what was promoted. 
Satire - Doesn't pretend to be real news and serves a purpose as commentary or entertainment. Utilized to expose, critique, or make fun of society, other people, and institutions. 
Bias - Prejudice against or in favor of one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair. Media bias is when journalists, news producers, and news outlets show bias in the selection of events and stories as well as the ways they are reported.

T.R.A.A.P.

Click on link for information