How to Lateral read

First off, you shouldn’t judge a site based on if it looks professional or not because, according to the Stanford History Education Group, the aesthetics can make you think that the site is credible even if it isn’t. And you also shouldn’t  stay on the site to see if it’s credible or read vertically.

The reason for that is that it usually doesn’t point it out.  And if it does, you still can’t trust it because it might not be true.  So to see if a source is credible, go to other sites to see if it’s credible, which is called lateral reading.  One site you can go to is Wikipedia, bringing me to my second point.

How to use the wikipedia wisely 

Unlike a popular myth, the wiki can’t easily be changed by anyone.  The only people that can change it permanently are the people that work there.  And according to Stanford, if there is a mistake, which is relatively rare, unlike some reliable sites it can be changed in an instant. 

And if you find something that you want to use from the wiki you can go to the bottom of the page to see sources cited and go to a site you prefer, to be able to technically quote from the original source. 

Following on that topic, let’s see how to use Google for research.

How to use google for research

This is going to be a list of things that help you use gGoogle from The EdTech Show with Dan Spada.  First, you shouldn’t ask Google questions because Google will usually come up with useless sites that don’t answer your questions.  

Another thing that you should do is to not forget words or letters, because by doing that you might get worse results. In addition capitalization doesn’t matter if you are using Google.

One thing that you can do to narrow searches is use quotations because not only does it narrow the search, the things that you search are specifically what you put on the search bar.  And if you want things that are more credible, you can use Google scholar or Google news.

Interview with a teacher 

Angel Nunez: What do you do to see if a source is credible?

Carl Finer: I usually do something called lateral reading.  To see if a source is credible, you don’t wanna take it from the source itself. 

CF: I wanna find out anything I can about who or what the source is.  And like, what their motivation or intent is, what their background is.

CF: So if I find an article online or I talk to someone I haven’t met before, I open other tabs to search up what I can about that person or that source. Even if I meet people I’ll go home and Google them…

In conclusion you should use your tools to your advantage for research and also fact check your sources to see if they are credible to not be misled.