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CIS Secondary Library: Evaluating Sources - Bias & Credibility

Evaluating Sources - Bias & Credibility

Tool to evaluate academic journals - Beall's List

"This is a list of questionable, scholarly open-access publishers. We recommend that scholars read the available reviews, assessments and descriptions provided here, and then decide for themselves whether they want to submit articles, serve as editors or on editorial boards. In a few cases, non-open access publishers whose practices match those of predatory publishers have been added to the list as well. The criteria for determining predatory publishers are here.​"

Games and Simulations

FakeOut
Can you spot ‘fake news’? Have fun finding the facts with this social media-emulating game that helps students learn and practice quick checks for verifying sources, claims, and photos.


Reality Check

On the internet, it can be hard to tell what’s true and what’s false—but we have to make a lot of decisions based on how reliable we think things are. In Reality Check, you’ll learn how to find clues like finding where a story originally came from and comparing it to other sources, as well as how to use tools like fact-checking sites and reverse image searches.

In each mission, you’ll be presented with a story on your social network feed that might be entirely true, entirely false, or somewhere in between. To find out, click on the different parts of the page where you see a magnifying glass. Once you’ve seen all the clues, you can decide how reliable you think it is and how to respond to it.

Because fact-checking shouldn’t be a chore, each scenario is designed to be played in 15 minutes or less. The game can be played in any internet browser on computers or mobile devices.


Bad News

In Bad News, you take on the role of a fake news-monger. Drop all pretense of ethics and choose a path that builds your persona as an unscrupulous media magnate. But keep an eye on your ‘followers’ and ‘credibility’ meters. Your task is to get as many followers as you can while slowly building up fake credibility as a news site. But watch out: you lose if you tell obvious lies or disappoint your supporters!


Factitious

This tool intended to build user skills in identifying false information in a gameified format. Using a Tinder-like format, players swipe left or right depending on if they think the news presented is real or fake. Users can get hints by looking at the source of the article. Players earn points and can progress through several levels.


Newsfeed Defenders

  • Identify markers of verification, transparency, accountability, and independence in news stories.
  • Define and identify problematic news items, and other news-related types of misinformation.
  • Explain a variety of strategies to verify images and information.
  • Evaluate text for bias based on word choices and framing methods.
  • Use third-party information to judge the credibility of a source.
  • Evaluate the benefits and challenges of digital news and social media to a democratic society.

Doubt it

Can you spot the fakes on your feed? Test yourself on these stories — some are the real deal, and some are misleading, questionable, or just plain false. So pick your favourite eyebrow and get ready to raise it.

Tools to evaluate news sources

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Official Media Bias Fact Check Extension– This extension will display a color-coded icon denoting the bias of the page you are currently viewing, according to Media Bias/Fact Check. You can click the icon to read more notes about the site or visit MBFC for more details. This extension also displays bias and factual reporting on Facebook and Twitter. (also available for Firefox)


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Stopaganda Plus- Provides a color-coded icon to the top of the browser to indicate the bias of any source we have rated. It will also display bias and factual reporting levels on Google and DuckDuck Go searches as well as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. (Chrome) (Firefox)


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