Checking Sources
📋 What it is
To evaluate a source, check who made it, when, why, and whether other trusted sources agree.
🗣️ Coach says
Before you trust a source, run four quick checks: WHO wrote it (expert?), WHEN (up to date?), WHY (to inform or to sell?), and does anyone else RELIABLE agree? If a claim appears in only one shady place, be suspicious.
🧠 Memory hook
Who · When · Why · Who-else-agrees — four checks before you trust.
😂 Giggle
Why did the red herring fail the debate?
It kept going off-topic and smelled fishy!
😲 Whoa!
Fact-checkers call the “who else agrees?” step lateral reading — and studies show it’s the single fastest way to catch a fake site, faster than reading the site itself.
⚖️ The claim on trial:
“This health tip is trustworthy — it says a pill cures colds overnight.”
You're the judge. Deliver a verdict, pick the evidence that really matters, then reveal.
✗ Weak / flawed — Weak / flawed — the WHY is to sell, and no trusted source agrees (fails lateral reading). A slick look and self-posted five stars aren’t reliability.
Run who / when / why / who-else-agrees before trusting — a single selling source with no corroboration fails.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Pick any online claim and do the four checks. Then search whether a trusted source agrees.