PSCH 271: Evaluating Information on the Web Using SIFT
In this course, you'll be gathering evidence of the effectiveness of a resilience rewirement of your choosing. The web is full of freely available information on a variety of "wellness hacks" and trends, some of it false and some of it reliable. It's not realistic or necessary to base every decision on what to trust on evidence from peer-reviewed research. The SIFT method was developed by digital expert Mike Caulfield based on the practices of professional fact checkers to help people develop critical practices and habits of mind when reviewing information on the web.
I will introduce the "moves" involved in applying SIFT, and you will practice these moves using a few different examples. We will use polling to gauge the consensus of the group on the reliability of the information provided in each source.
Icebreaker: Your Information Seeking and Evaluation Practices
Applying SIFT: Check the Source
Applying SIFT:
Returning to the example of caffeine alternatives for staying alert, the following article was in the first page of results for a Google Search filtered down to News:
Let's investigate an article about CBD oils and stress reduction.
Applying SIFT: Check a Claim
Checking a Claim:
The article above made a claim that coffee alleviates depression. Do a quick Google Search to see if you can come up with any results that substantiate that claim.
Applying SIFT: Look for Trusted Work
Finding trusted works could mean doing a Google News search as suggested in the video. It could also mean looking for scientific evidence from other credible sources such as Peer-Reviewed research articles.
- Google ScholarSearches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. It includes a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
- APA PsycINFO
Now called APA PsycINFO. Abstract and index of Psychology and the psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, nursing, sociology, business, education, etc.
- PubMedPubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, provides access to MEDLINE citations back to the mid-1960's to present.
Supplementary Materials
- Scicheck:Fact checking site on scientific topics from FactCheck.org
- Sort Fact from Fiction Online with Lateral ReadingVideo from Stanford History Education Group