Skip to Main Content
It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

Fake News and Information Literacy: Detecting Fake News

Resources to equip students and the general public to identify reliable sources of news and other information.

How to Recognize Fake News

How to recognize fake news

How To Recognize A Fake News Story, Huffington Post, November 22, 2016

Fake News Sources

Fake News Sources

Source: False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical “News” Sources: a dynamic Google Doc filled with tips from Melissa Zimdars, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media at Merrimack College.

More tips

More tips for recognizing fake news

Breaking News Consumer's Handbook:  Fake News Edition  On the Media November 18, 2016

UC Berkeley Library Guide Resources

UCB Library guide to Evaluating Sources includes tips for looking at any potential information source:

  1. Authority - Who is the author? What is their point of view? 
  2. Purpose - Why was the source created? Who is the intended audience?
  3. Publication & format - Where was it published? In what medium?
  4. Relevance - How is it relevant to your research? What is its scope?
  5. Date of publication - When was it written? Has it been updated?
  6. Documentation - Did they cite their sources? Who did they cite?

See the guide for more, including distinguishing popular versus scholarly sources.

More on Fake News Sources and How to Spot Them