Evaluating Resources - ART 222 / 223 - Art History - Library at Western Colorado University

Tools for Fact Checking & Determining Bias

AllSides This link opens in a new window
Unlike regular news services, AllSides exposes bias and provides multiple angles on the same story so you can quickly get the full picture, not just one slant.

Media Bias / Fact Check
A media bias resource with several thousand media sources listed in their database. Gives background on source, bias rating, and the level of factual reporting.
Politifact
PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics.
Punditfact
"Dedicated to checking the accuracy of claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, the hosts and guests of talk shows, and other members of the media."
BBC News: Reality Check
Dedicated to examining the facts and claims behind a story to determine whether or not it is true. It could be something you think is deliberately misleading, or a story in the news or on social media which just doesn't look right.
NPR Fact Check
NPR's fact checking page.
FactCheck.org
Nonpartisan, nonprofit. Monitors the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, & news releases.
Flack Check
Provides resources designed to help viewers recognize flaws in arguments in general and political ads in particular.
SciCheck
Focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy. From FactCheck.org.
Climate Feedback
Climate Feedback is a worldwide network of scientists who collectively assess the credibility of influential climate change media coverage. Each reviewer holds a Ph.D. and has recently published articles in top-tier peer-reviewed science journals.
Truth Be Told
Non-profit, non-partisan. From Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism and Film in the School of Communications. Examines claims about the black community in public debate.
Washington Post Fact Checker
"The Truth Behind The Rhetoric." Learn about their rating scale: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/about-the-fact-checker/
Blue Feed Red Feed
From the Wall Street Journal. See Liberal Facebook and Conservative Facebook, Side by Side.
B.S. Detector
A browser extension that alerts users to unreliable news sources.
Snopes
"The snopes.com website was founded by David Mikkelson, who lives and works in the Los Angeles area. What he began in 1995 as an expression of his interest in researching urban legends has since grown into what is widely regarded by folklorists, journalists, and laypersons alike as one of the World Wide Web’s essential resources."
Quote Investigator
This website records the investigatory work of Garson O’Toole who diligently seeks the truth about quotations.

Information Timeline

	Description
Sources	Television, Web, Radio
Characteristics	Basic facts. Information is shared during the event or immediately following the event. Details may be sparse, biased, and/or unsubstantiated. Updates and corrections to information are made in subsequent posts (often hours later or the next day).
Type of Information	General
Author	Journalists (not specialists in the field of study); General public
Audience	General public
Locating Tools	Web search engines, social networks
Examples	Twitter, Facebook, various blogs, KBUT Community Radio, local news programs on ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.

	Description
Sources	Newspapers, television, radio, web
Characteristics	General facts. Details may still be sparse, biased, and/or unsubstantiated. May include more geographical and background information. Also tends to include a few more details about the identities of key people and historical relevance. More accurate than previous reports because details have begun to be verified.
Type of Information	Varies. Some articles include analysis, statistics, photographs, editorials, and opinions.
Author	Journalists (not specialists in the field of study)
Audience	General public
Locating Tools	Web search engines, newspapers, periodical databases
Examples	New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, http://abcnews.go.com/, NPR, etc.

	Description
Sources	Popular and mass market magazines
Characteristics	General facts. Details may still be sparse, biased, and/or unsubstantiated. May include more geographical and background information. Also tends to include more details about the identities of key people and historical relevance. More accurate than previous reports because details have begun to be verified.
Type of Information	Journalists (not specialists in the field of study)
Author	Journalists (not specialists in the field of study)
Audience	General public to the knowledgeable layperson
Locating Tools	Web search engines, print magazines, periodical databases
Examples	Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, The Nation, National Review, etc.

	Description
Sources	Trade magazines and scholarly journals
Characteristics	Articles written and reviewed by experts in a field. Often presents new research in the area.
Type of Information	Research results, detailed and theoretical discussion. Bibliography included.
Author	Specialists and scholars in the field
Audience	Scholars, specialists, students
Locating Tools	General and subject-specific databases
Examples	Music Educators Journal, Journal of Environmental Engineering, Journal of Chemical Education, etc.

Locating Tools	Library catalog, general and subject-specific databases, reference sources
	Description
Sources	Scholarly journals, books, conference proceedings. Reference sources such as encyclopedias.
Characteristics	Includes deep research, hindsight, secondary analysis, and very specific details of the events, people, and places.
Type of Information	In-depth coverage of a topic, edited compilations of scholarly articles relating to a topic. Bibliography included.
Author	Specialists and scholars in the field
Audience	General public, scholars, specialists, students
Examples	Encyclopedia Britannica, published conference proceedings, various books, Journal of Terrorism Research, Engineering Journal, etc.

e-Resources and Serials Coordinator

Tristan Buss

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ART 222 / 223 - Art History: Evaluating Resources

ART 222 / 223

Class Guide: Resources for Research

Tools for Fact Checking & Determining Bias

Information Timeline

e-Resources and Serials Coordinator