Fake News OLD: Reliable research resources

student guide for detecting fake news and finding reliable information

Reliable research resources

Using research sources that you can trust is more important than ever. Recent research studies have shown that asking people to “do the research” on fake news stories makes them seem more believable, not less. This happens because a Google search on a fake topic may retrieve multiple results from low-quality information sources that can mislead the researcher into believing that the false story is real.  

Find reliable research sources by searching trustworthy news sources and library databases, which provide access to published information in magazines and academic journals.

How to choose your news (TED-ED five minutes)

Trustworthy news sources

No news source gets everything right 100% of the time and is completely free of bias.  Here are some characteristics of the best news sources.

  •  Practice fact-based journalism grounded in professional ethics
  • Clearly separate opinion (editorial) and news stories

Read more about the Characteristics of Reputable News Sources (from UC Merced library guide)

Examples of news sources that practice fact-based journalism:

  • New York Times (center-left perspective)
  • Wall Street Journal (center-right perspective)
  • Al-Jazeera and BBC (international perspective)
  • U.S. Major Dailies (library databases that searches five of the nation's top news sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune)

Sources for checking the media bias of news sources:

Free subscription to the New York Times online for PCC students!

Google News Custom Search

This Google Custom Search only searches the following 10 news sites, selected by PCC librarians and instructors, as reasonably reliable news sources that practice fact-based journalism.  The sites searches include a mix of national and interrnation news sources:  Al-Jazeera; BBC; Christian Science Monitor; Economist; New York Times; ProPublica; PBS; Reuters; Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. 

Search library databases

Library databases provide access to published articles from magazines, newspapers, and academic journals.  Unlike some of the search results you will get from a web search, the published articles in database are almost always written by professionals and reviewed by an editor, which improves reliability. Learn more in this 4 minute video: What Are Library Databases?

Choosing which database to search depends on your topic. To find out which database would work well for your topic use the subject based research guides for your topic's discipline (to find people who will write articles about the topic). You can also use the Articles and Databases link for a complete listing of available databases.  Here are some good options for many topics:

 

Tips for searching databases