{"id":27349,"date":"2025-11-27T15:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T15:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/?p=27349"},"modified":"2025-12-01T11:45:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T11:45:47","slug":"evaluating-information-sources-finding-and-checking-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/2025\/11\/27\/evaluating-information-sources-finding-and-checking-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaluating information &#8211; finding and checking information"},"content":{"rendered":"<section id=\"builder-section-text_12\" class=\"builder-section-first builder-section builder-section-text builder-section-next-text builder-text-columns-2 layout-9\" style=\"background-size: cover; background-repeat: no-repeat;background-position: center center;\">\n<div class=\"builder-section-content\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-1\" id=\"builder-section-text_12-column-1\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div id=\"builder-section-text_229-column-1\" class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-4\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<h2><strong>Evaluating information sources\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Here are a couple of ways children and young people can evaluate sources:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"11\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Look for clues:\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Author<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(are they trustworthy?),\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Date<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(is the information still current?),\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Purpose<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(does the source inform, sell, persuade or entertain?)<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"12\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Strategy:\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">SIFT<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">S<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">top,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">nvestigate source,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">F<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">ind better coverage,\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">T<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">race claims to original context.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Children and young people should always remember to provide sources they use. As well as helping them find reliable information, it adds credibility to their work!<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div id=\"builder-section-text_229-column-1\" class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-5\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div id=\"builder-section-text_229-column-1\" class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-6\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-2\" id=\"builder-section-text_12-column-2\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<p aria-level=\"2\"><a id=\"ttfmake-1764589284\" class=\"ttfmake-button\" style=\"background-color: #171717; color: #ffffff; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; padding: 4px 10px; border-radius: 100px;\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/2022\/12\/20\/finding-and-checking-learner-digital-literacy-toolkit\/\" data-hover-background-color=\"#171717\" data-hover-color=\"#ffffff\">back to finding and <br \/>checking information<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"builder-section-text_70\" class=\"builder-section-prev-text builder-section builder-section-text builder-section-last builder-text-columns-1\" style=\"background-size: cover; background-repeat: no-repeat;background-position: center center;\">\n<div class=\"builder-section-content\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-1\" id=\"builder-section-text_70-column-1\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div id=\"builder-section-text_229-column-1\" class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-4\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div id=\"builder-section-text_229-column-1\" class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-5\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<h2 aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Spotting mis- and disinformation\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Children and young people should check whether any information, from any source, is reliable. While online sources, especially social media sources, are often suspected, even printed books can at least have biases.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">However, recent research has found that misinformation and disinformation are mostly about today\u2019s socio-political matters.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">There are a host of techniques to check whether information is true but firstly children and young people need an attitude of\u00a0<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">constant vigilance<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Only if they routinely suspect information they receive will they apply these techniques.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div id=\"builder-section-text_229-column-1\" class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-6\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-2\" id=\"builder-section-text_70-column-1\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<h2 aria-level=\"2\"><strong>Reliability-checking\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In addition to SIFT and Author \u2013 Date \u2013 Purpose, the following have also recently been recommended by school librarians:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"13\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose):\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.emich.edu\/loexquarterly\/vol31\/iss3\/4\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">https:\/\/commons.emich.edu\/loexquarterly\/vol31\/iss3\/4<\/span><\/a><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:360,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"14\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">SVC (Stop, Verify, Correct), from\u00a0<\/span><span aria-label=\"Rich text content control\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u200b<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">(CILIP, 2024)<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u200b<\/span><\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">:\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cilip.org.uk\/news\/679140\/STOP-VERIFY-CORRECT-How-to-combat-misinformation-online-and-beyond-.htm\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">https:\/\/www.cilip.org.uk\/news\/679140\/STOP-VERIFY-CORRECT-How-to-combat-misinformation-online-and-beyond-.htm<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">There are several other models listed on the CILIPS website here:\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cilips.org.uk\/media-and-information-literacy-resources\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">https:\/\/www.cilips.org.uk\/media-and-information-literacy-resources<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In general, children and young people should check several sources, and where possible make sure they don\u2019t all link back to the same original source. The gold standard reliable sources are those that have been peer-reviewed, that is checked by experts for accuracy, reliability, verifiability etc. Most academic journals are peer-reviewed, but they can be very costly to access.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"builder-text-row\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-column builder-text-column-3\" id=\"builder-section-text_70-column-1\">\n<div class=\"builder-text-content\">\n<h2 aria-level=\"3\"><strong>Fact-checking services\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In case it\u2019s not possible for your students to check information, there are fact-checking services. These include: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/bbcverify\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">BBC Verify<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/theferret.scot\/fact-check\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Ferret<\/span><\/a><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:120}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evaluating information sources\u00a0 Here are a couple of ways children and young people can evaluate sources:\u00a0 Look for clues:\u00a0Author\u00a0(are they trustworthy?),\u00a0Date\u00a0(is the information still current?),\u00a0Purpose\u00a0(does the source inform, sell, persuade or entertain?)\u00a0 Strategy:\u00a0SIFT\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Stop,\u00a0Investigate source,\u00a0Find better coverage,\u00a0Trace claims to original context.\u00a0 Children and young people should always remember to provide sources they use. As well as &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61927,"featured_media":27363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1992],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information-literacy-learner-digital-literacy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/public\/digilearn\/uploads\/sites\/6913\/2025\/11\/27154344\/Digital-skills-for-children-and-young-people-17.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27349"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27412,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27349\/revisions\/27412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/digilearn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}