Research Strategies

The CCOW method can be used to evaluate any source for appropriateness. Below is an overview on how to apply the method, see the guide for more detail.

Credentials - Investigate the credentials of whoever created the information with questions like:

• Do they have experience or expertise in the subject they're discussing? Do they work in a field that qualifies them to talk about the subject?
• What's their educational background? Do they have an advanced degree in the subject under discussion?
• Do they have any other experience that might make them a good source of information? For instance, an eyewitness to an earthquake doesn't have to be a seismologist to give good information about what it was like to experience that event.

Claims - What claims are they making? Is the information they're providing accurate? Can we verify its accuracy?

Objectives - What did they hope to accomplish by creating the information?

Worldview - This element is connected to objectives in that it deals with bias and examining potential bias behind a publication. Every source will have some degree of bias and that's expected, the questions you're asking here are: How does this source frame the situation? What language are they using that helps me understand their perspective or worldview?

Fact checking information is something anyone can do. It does take time, but fact-checking before you share may save you and others a lot of headache later if the fact seems unclear or questionable. While there are many fact-checking strategies you can use, one of our favorites comes from Michael Caufield's Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers. He calls them:

4 Moves and a Habit

Here's how Caufield describes what those moves and a habit look like:

1. Check for previous work: Look around to see if someone else has already fact-checked the claim or provided a synthesis of research.
2. Go upstream to the source: Go “upstream” to the source of the claim. Most web content is not original. Get to the original source to understand the trustworthiness of the information.
3. Read laterally: Read laterally.^[1] Once you get to the source of a claim, read what other people say about the source (publication, author, etc.). The truth is in the network.
4. Circle back: If you get lost, hit dead ends, or find yourself going down an increasingly confusing rabbit hole, back up and start over knowing what you know now. You’re likely to take a more informed path with different search terms and better decisions.

The habit is to check your emotions while checking the facts. If you've ever felt charged up about a specific issue or experience a strong emotional reaction when you read a headline, congratulations, you're a human! We all have biases and worldviews we bring with us to reviewing and evaluating information. Being conscious of those emotions is helpful when fact-checking because it can help us stay focus on what we're really looking for: the facts.  

Read the book for more detail and examples on applying these strategies.

Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers by Michael A. Caufield.

You might be asked to use only primary or secondary sources for your research. These infographics explain how to evaluate those to know what you're looking for.

Shanmharen. (April 2015). Primary Sources.png. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primary_Sources.png

Shanmharen. (April 2015). Secondary Sources.png. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Secondary_Sources.png