Source Evaluation Worksheet: Lateral Reading in Five Fields

How to use this

Complete the five fields in order. Do not skip ahead to field four, because a judgment formed before fields one to three tends to survive them.

Set a timer for five minutes the first few times. The point of this worksheet is that source evaluation should be fast enough to actually do.

The worksheet

Field 1: What am I evaluating?

Record the exact publisher name and the address of the page. If the item reached you as a screenshot or a forward, record that too, and note whether you were able to reach an original.

Field 2: What do independent sources say about this publisher?

Search the publisher name with a neutral term such as “founded”, “funding”, or a name from the masthead. Record what you find, and from where.

Record one of three outcomes: a clear independent record, essentially no independent footprint, or a contested record where sources disagree.

Field 3: What is this organization for?

Choose the closest description and write one line of justification: news organization, advocacy organization, trade or industry body, research institution, government or intergovernmental body, commercial content publisher, individual.

Purpose is not a verdict. It tells you which direction selection pressure runs.

Field 4: What does the specific claim rest on?

Identify the single most important factual claim on the page and trace it. Record three things: whether the cited source exists, whether it says what is claimed, and whether its scope matches the use being made of it.

Most misleading material fails here rather than at field two.

Field 5: What do I still not know?

Write at least one item. Common entries: who funds the organization, whether the cited study has been replicated, whether the author has relevant expertise, whether a response from the other party exists.

A worksheet completed with field five blank has almost certainly been completed too confidently.

Worked reference

An example completion is walked through in the lesson How to Evaluate an Online Source.

For facilitators

Run this on a source the group considers reliable as well as one they do not. Participants who only apply it to sources they distrust learn to use it as a weapon rather than an instrument, and the habit does not transfer.

Allow ten minutes for the first source and five for the second. Ask each participant to read out field five only. The variation in what people could not establish is usually the most instructive part of the session.

Version and reuse

Version 1.1, reviewed August 2026. Reuse terms are described on the Terms of Use page.

Next step

Practice in the Evaluate a Source lab

Topics covered: Media LiteracyDigital Literacy