Verify Facts With Lateral Reading

Charlie Warzel shares the concept that fact checking should be a quick process, verifying by first determining coherence with other sources, even Wikipedia articles.

This concept is promoted by Michael Caulfield, who believes that people tend to overthink while verifying online information. Caulfield thinks too many people spend hours using critical thinking techniques to evaluate every tenet of a questionable claim. Caulfield's position is that in most cases we just need to identify a claim as doubtful and move on.

Caulfield found these concepts in a paper by Sam Wineburg and work Sarah McGrew. Based on this research, Caulfield argues "that the best way to learn about a source of information is to leave it and look elsewhere"(Warzel, 2021).

Warzel says Caulfield recommends a four-step process when confronted with dubious information:

1. Stop.
2. Investigate the source.
3. Find better coverage.
4. Trace claims, quotes and media to the original context.

This process goes by the acronym "SIFT." It is intended for the average individual who wants to verify if a claim is consistent with other sources which are generally accurate in a reasonable amount of time.

-DD