This from the American Psychological Association web site (Susan Nolan) – a comment on identifying fake news in the classroom. I do like the “think like a scientist approach” and I have always tried to encourage the students I work with to carefully consider the methodology responsible for findings (you tend not to assume there are outright fabrications in the content we ask students to review) and identify what unstated influences may have been present.
BTW – CRAAP is an acronym the author encourages to encourage attention to possible sources of bias.
- Currency (When was it published? Has it been updated?)
- Relevance (Does it relate to your needs? Who is the audience?)
- Authority (Who are the author and publisher? What are their credentials?)
- Accuracy (Is it reliable and truthful? Is it supported by evidence?)
- Purpose (Why does this information exist? Is there a bias?)