"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." - Aldous Huxley, Proper Studies
Fake news is no joke. It spreads lies and misinformation, making for an uninformed and confused nation. This guide will help you better understand the phenomenon of fake news and undertake ways to combat fake news. Having an informed citizenry that can sort facts from falsehood and knows how to fact check claims, is vital to a thriving democracy.
The information literacy work we do on campus, both in the library and beyond, teaches the skills needed for both scholarly research and lifelong learning: check the source to see when and where it was published, investigate the author(s) to evaluate their expertise, read broadly to see how others are discussing the same issue or facts. For more information on conducting academic research, please consult our Doing Research guide. If you have any questions about fake news or want to consult about the issue, any of our librarians would be happy to help.
On the Media, a radio program and podcast that covers media issues, published this guide in 2016 and has some handy suggestions for thinking about dubious "news" that comes to you through social media channels.
Reference Shelf: Propaganda and Misinformation by 
Bias, Belief, and Conviction in an Age of Fake Facts by 
Fake News in an Era of Social Media: Tracking Viral Contagion by 
Fake News, Propaganda, and Plain Old Lies: How to Find Trustworthy Information in the Digital Age by 
Fake News Nation by 
The Anatomy of Fake News by 
Determining the "best" sources to read will always have some degree of subjectivism, but there are tools to help you understand the bias of specific news sources. Visit the Interactive Media Bias Chart for the most up-to-date chart and to investigate the perspectives and reliability of numerous sites.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
