To fact-check a claim, don’t read further down the page — read sideways. “Lateral reading” means opening a new tab to check what other reliable sources say about the claim and the site making it. It’s the move professional fact-checkers use, and it takes under a minute.

You’ve seen it: a screenshot or a forwarded message making a jaw-dropping claim. The instinct is to read on, or to share. Professional fact-checkers do something different — and faster — and you can borrow their move.

Read sideways, not down

When most of us hit a suspicious claim, we read further down the same page, judging it on how convincing it sounds. Fact-checkers do the opposite: they open a new tab and read laterally — checking what other reliable sources say about the claim, and about the site making it. A polished page proves nothing; what the rest of the web says about it proves a lot.

Lateral reading in 20 seconds
You see: “Scientists say chocolate cures the common cold.” Instead of reading on, open a new tab and search the claim plus “evidence”. In seconds you find no reputable source backs it — and that the original site sells supplements. Verdict: not credible. Total time: less than a minute.

Two fast companions

Trace it to the source (follow a claim back to where it actually started, not the tenth re-post), and check the date (old stories love to recirculate as if they’re breaking news).

Try this
Take one surprising thing you’ve seen online recently. Open a fresh tab and read laterally on it — what do other, independent sources say? You may be relieved, or you may be very glad you checked.

🔗 A friendly free guide: Purdue OWL — Evaluating Sources

These habits matter most on the open web, where anyone can publish anything. Let’s pull them together for judging websites specifically. On to Digital Source Evaluation.

© FRELIP, released under CC BY 4.0. Linked resources remain under their own licences. Curated by the FRELIP Open Courseware editorial team.

Last modified: Thursday, 4 June 2026, 10:38 PM