Be Informed
Pause. Consider. Decide.
Though information- and misinformation- comes at us all day, everyday, there are concrete steps that you can take to build your expert toolkit, and know what to trust.
Cultivate a critical mindset about user-generated content, unfamiliar organizations, and content shared by recognized news sources, by practicing and developing the habits outlined in the News Literacy Project's 7 Steps.
How can you reconstruct the context of an online information source in order to make a solid judgment about its reliability? The SIFT framework by Mike Caulfield offers simple and empowering guidance.
Dig in to the reliability of the sources quoted or embedded within news stories themselves using the IMVAIN framework, developed by Stony Brook Center for News Literacy.
Download a copy of this chart and read more by visiting the Wilmington Public Library website.
- The ReviewCurrent articles from the UD student newspaper.
- Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Recent global news content, as well as archives. Content from newspapers, newswires and news sites in full-text format. Provides large collections of news from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Australia. (Coverage: 1980 --)
- News Journal (Wilmington, DE) This link opens in a new window
Online edition of the News Journal (Wilmington, DE).
Does not include advertisements, graphic material, syndicated columns, or AP articles. Intended to include all articles written by staff, including obituaries and letters, etc., but sometimes this content is not supplied by the newspaper publisher. - New York Times (NYTimes.com) This link opens in a new window
The New York Times Online includes the same articles and images that appear in the print edition plus additional resources including images, videos, audio, graphics and data. Crosswords not included. Content may also be accessed via the free New York Times app. Content not available via tablet. (Coverage: Limited access to 1923-1980; Full access from 1981 to the present).
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Full-text information from news, business, and legal sources, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. Though not required, you have the option to create a personal account that will give you access to special features such as alerts, saved searches, folders, history, annotations and more.
- Philadelphia Inquirer This link opens in a new window
Full text articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer from various sources. See below for options.
- Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) This link opens in a new window
Digital edition of the Wall Street Journal. Includes the same articles and images that appear in the print edition, plus additional resources such as video, audio, graphics, and data. Available editions: U.S., Asia, Europe, India. (Coverage: 4 years ago --)
NOTE: You must login to your account once every 90 days in order for it to remain active.
- Washington Post Online This link opens in a new window
Digital edition of The Washington Post. (Coverage: 2005 --)
- National JournalThe National Journal provides daily analysis on Hill procedures and updates. In the Race Tracker section, you can track election poll data and campaign finance information. In the Almanac section, you can find biographies on politicians. The National Journal is an immensely rich resource that is worth exploring if you are looking for information on Congress.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive reporting and analysis on “hot topics” in the news. Each single-themed report is researched and written by a seasoned journalist, footnoted and professionally fact checked. (Coverage: 1923 --)
- govinfo (GPO)A-Z listings of all documents from the United States Government Publishing Office.
- HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new window
Image-based government document and legal research database. Extensive coverage of U.S. statutory materials, congressional documents and treaties. Also includes all of the world’s constitutions, collections of classic treatises, and presidential documents. Coverage of U.S. goverrnment publications is comprehensive back to inception, and all titles are exact replicas of the official print publication from the U.S. Government Publishing Office. A large assortment of international resources are also available.
Resources for Verifying and Fact Checking
- Factcheck.orgA nonprofit organization which aims to monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players.
- Google Fact Check ExplorerThis tool allows you to easily browse and search for fact checks. For example, you can search for a politician's statement, or for a topic. You can also restrict results to a specific publisher.
- Lead StoriesFact checking and debunking website
- PolitifactThe Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact researches the claims of politicians and checks their accuracy.
- SnopesA well established debunking site which provides citations to its sources.
- PoynterPoynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization. Their site contains excellent fact checking resources and their MediaWise section offers support for teaching media literacy concepts.
- LinkedInLinkedIn can be used to discover the credentials and areas of expertise of authors of news stories. However, use additional tools such as a general web search to verify what you find or to reveal competing claims.
- Know Your MemeA website dedicated to documenting Internet phenomena such as viral videos and image macros.
- Science FeedbackWorldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in science based media coverage.
- RetractionWatch.comA blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers.