SIFT is a set of four 'moves' you can use when evaluating a source.
Stop -
First, what do you know about this source? What is the reputation of the claim and the website (or journal, or book). If you don't know, use the other moves to get a sense of what you are looking at.
Second, think about how much fact-checking you need to do for your purpose. If you want to know if something is reliable to repost on social media, this might be a quick check, but if you are doing scholarly research you would want to do more research before using or sharing
Investigate the source -
This does not need to be a full scale investigation, but take a little time to recognize what media type it is and a little about the source before deciding to read, share, or use as a source.
Find Better Coverage -
Often the same information will be available from multiple sources. While this doesn't always prove that this information is correct or that you must agree with the claim, it does help to a give context and history for the claim.
Trace claims, quotes, and media back to original media -
Secondary sources are often stripped of their original context, going back to the primary source, or even a fuller secondary source can help. For example, is the claim broadly accepted or contested?
Sometimes you will find that the initial source is outright wrong or mis-leading, but most often you will simply find additional helpful context
Shared under a Creative Commons License from:https://hapgood.us/2019/06/19/sift-the-four-moves/
To learn about SIFT in more detail, check out the SIFT three hour online minicourse.
This book describes an source evaluation method that is more like what news fact checkers use. This process may feel more natural and quicker than traditional library source-evaluation tools. Caulfield outlines "four moves and a habit" for fact checking online information.
1. Investigate the source (using the four moves)
"Check for previous work" - Make use of existing fact checking sources like Snopes, FactCheck.org, etc. for news, or, for scholarly research, check for additional background information in encyclopedias, books, or journal articles.
"Go upstream" - find the original source by using references (or a google search) to link back to the primary source.
"Read laterally" - by searching for what other sources have to say about the same topic
"Circle back" - using what you have learned, take a more informed path through the fact checking process
2. Trade up to more credible sources
If multiple sources say the same thing, select the source that seems the most credible or the primary source to cite in your paper.
Circle back to a previous stage of the fact checking process
The habit is to "check your emotion" - if something it triggering a strong emotional reaction, it is probably a good idea to fact check the information before sharing.
