Trusting Information - Lakelands Computing

There is a lot of information out there on the internet. How do you know if you can trust it? One approach is to ask 5 questions:

1. Who wrote it?

You want to find information that is written by an expert - someone with relevant qualifications and experience

You want information that is up to date - that could mean literally today if it is a new story, or a few years old if it is a slow moving topic - but you want to check it is the most up to date information ( you can use Advanced Search to help with this)

Did they do the research themselves ? Or talk directly to the person who did? or are they getting their information from someone who isn't an expert? Is it from the "right" country - i.e. if the story is about america but the original research is about Africa - is is still accurate? It might be, it might not be - you have to decide.

4. Where is it published? Is it on a "respectable" web site - for example a university research site, or a reliable news channel, or a government site (if you trust the government to be telling the truth on the topic) or is it on a random website which might be less trustable. Be careful of information being shared on social media. Often it is Fake News, also people often only share things they agree with, this can lead to what I call an echo chamber effect where people strengthen their own beliefs because their "friends" are sharing things that say the same.

5. Why did they write it? Are they just sharing information? Are they trying to sell a product or idea? Do they personally benefit from it being believed - this can lead to bias

You also want to check if a story is "real" or if it is "Fake News" - even trustable sites sometimes post inaccurrate information. Use fact checkers to help you with this - personally I like Snopes and FullFact