Fake News refers to any false or misleading information presented as news. It may be intentionally false, in order to damage a reputation or generate revenue, or it may be unintentional, because of the author's worldview or biases.
The best way to fight fake news is to fortify your own information literacy. Information literacy includes the ability to recognize where information is needed, and to find, evaluate, apply, and share information effectively. It also includes an awareness of how information is created, promoted, and consumed. Someone who has high information literacy is able to understand when they need to seek out information, and they are able to evaluate multiple sources in order to determine which information to trust.
How to Increase Your Information Literacy
You can protect yourself from misinformation and strengthen your ability to distinguish between fake news and reality by learning the tricks behind fake news, choosing reliable sources, and staying away from common information blunders.
Learn the Tactics Behind Fake News
It can be hard to tell if the news you see is true! In our free tutorial series, you'll learn tips and tricks to figure out which information you can trust.
In this series, you will learn about:
- Confirmation Bias
- Causation Versus Correlation
- Lateral Reading
- The Power of CMD/CTRL F
- Ad Hominem Attacks
- Burden of Proof
- Loaded Questions
- Straw Man Arguments
- False Equivalencies
By the end, you will have a firm understanding of the ways that content creators may attempt to confuse or manipulate you, and how to sort through the information to find the truth.
Check out these online games to learn information literacy! Most are for children, but they are useful for adults as well.
Seek out Reliable Sources
A source is more reliable when it's been peer-reviewed and acknowledges multiple viewpoints. The library has many reliable databases that can help you find balanced answers to your questions.
Contact your library: Talk to your librarian! They would be happy to get you started with resources from the province-wide library collection to answer your questions.
E-Resource databases: Here on the Palliser website, you can access databases from home in the "E-Resources" tab above. Some popular databases include:
- Academic OneFile Select
- Gale General OneFIle
- Ancestry Library
- Canada Census Research Kit
- Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia
- Canadian Major Dailies
- PLEA
- Coronavirus Research Database
- ...and many more!
(Some e-resources require a library card. Click here to sign up for a free library card.)
Stay away from...
Only Getting Information From Social Media
- Social media (like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) use "algorithms" to show you only what they think you want to see, so you won't get the full picture.
Only Looking at One Source
- The creator of that one source could have biases or gaps in their knowledge, so you should consult several sources to get a well-rounded perspective on the issue.
Relying Only on a Quick Google Search
- Companies can pay Google to put their website at the top of your search results. If you only rely on the first few Google results to form your opinion, you're likely to miss out on better sources.
- Sources in the library's databases are unsponsored and peer-reviewed, so there are fewer underlying motivations to sift through.