Chapter 27 Exercises: Lateral Reading and Advanced Web Literacy

These exercises develop the practical verification skills covered in Chapter 27. Many require live internet access and real-world investigation. Document your findings as you go — the documentation is part of the exercise.

Part A: SIFT Method Application (Exercises 1–6)

Exercise 1: The Cold Stop Set a timer for 30 seconds. Find a political or health-related article on social media or via a news aggregator. Before reading any of the article content, use only the headline, source name, and URL to answer: (a) Do you recognize this outlet? (b) What is your immediate emotional response to the headline? (c) What questions would you want answered before sharing this? Write down your answers, then proceed with the full SIFT method and see what you learn.

Exercise 2: Source Investigation Race Your instructor will provide five unfamiliar news outlet names (e.g., "The Epoch Times," "The Federalist," "National File," "The Gateway Pundit," "ProPublica"). Without reading any of their actual articles, spend exactly 3 minutes per outlet using lateral reading to compile: (a) political bias rating from at least two tools, (b) ownership/funding information, (c) any notable controversies or corrections. Compare your findings with classmates.

Exercise 3: Find Better Coverage The following claim has appeared on social media: "A new study from Harvard shows that coffee drinkers live an average of 4.5 years longer than non-drinkers." Using only advanced search (no reading the original source), find: (a) whether such a study exists, (b) what the actual findings were (if the study exists), (c) how multiple independent science journalists have covered it, and (d) whether any elements of the social media claim are distorted. Write a 200-word summary of your findings.

Exercise 4: Tracing a Viral Statistic The statistic "Americans see between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day" appears frequently in marketing literature and is sometimes cited in media literacy materials. Trace this statistic to its primary source. (a) Who originally produced this figure? (b) What was the methodology? (c) Has it been peer-reviewed or independently verified? (d) How has it been distorted or amplified through repetition? Document every step of your search chain.

Exercise 5: SIFT Under Pressure Working in groups of three, spend 10 minutes evaluating as many claims as possible from a provided list of 20 social media posts (instructor-provided). Rate each as "credible," "dubious," or "indeterminate," and write one sentence of justification. After the exercise, compare ratings across groups and discuss cases of disagreement.

Exercise 6: Evaluating a Politician's Claim Choose a factual claim made by a current elected official (a statistic, a historical assertion, or a claim about a policy outcome). Use PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, or AFP Fact Check to find an existing fact check, or conduct your own using primary sources. Write a 300-word analysis distinguishing between: (a) what the politician actually said, (b) what is technically accurate in the claim, (c) what is misleading or omitted, and (d) the overall verdict.

Part B: Lateral Reading Skills (Exercises 7–10)

Exercise 7: Lateral vs. Vertical Reading Comparison You will evaluate the same website twice using two different methods. First, spend 5 minutes reading the website deeply (vertical reading), then write down your credibility assessment. Then spend 5 minutes doing nothing but lateral reading (opening new tabs, checking third-party sources). Write a new assessment. Compare the two: (a) Did your assessment change? (b) What did lateral reading reveal that vertical reading missed? (c) Which was more efficient? Suggested sites for this exercise: ActivistPost.com, GreenMedInfo.com, or similar sites your instructor selects.

Exercise 8: The Wikipedia Test For each of the following organizations, find and read the relevant Wikipedia article's "Criticism," "Controversies," or "Editorial practices" section. Summarize in 2-3 sentences what you learn about each outlet's credibility history: (a) Breitbart News, (b) Mother Jones, (c) The Daily Caller, (d) ThinkProgress. Discuss: does the presence of criticism in a Wikipedia article necessarily mean a source is unreliable?

Exercise 9: Media Rating Tool Comparison Choose three news outlets of your choice (mix of ideological positions). For each outlet, find ratings from: (a) Media Bias/Fact Check, (b) Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart, and (c) AllSides.com. Create a comparison table. Where do the three rating tools agree? Where do they disagree? Research the methodology of each tool and write a paragraph analyzing which methodology you find most defensible.

Exercise 10: Real-Time Lateral Reading Documentation Using screen recording software (or detailed notes), document a real-time lateral reading investigation of a breaking news story. Record: each tab you open, each search you run, what you find at each step, and how it updates your assessment. The goal is to make your verification process fully transparent and reproducible.

Part C: Advanced Search Skills (Exercises 11–14)

Exercise 11: Search Operator Construction For each of the following verification tasks, write the most efficient Google search query using advanced operators. Then execute the query and report what you find: (a) Find CDC guidelines on childhood vaccination published after January 2023 (b) Find PDF reports from universities on social media and mental health (c) Find whether any .gov sites have published information about a specific conspiracy theory topic (d) Find what the earliest reporting on a specific claim was (choose a claim your instructor provides)

Exercise 12: Primary Source Hunt A news article claims "The World Health Organization reports that 800,000 people die by suicide every year." Verify this claim by: (a) finding the primary WHO source (not secondary reporting), (b) confirming the exact wording used by WHO, (c) checking whether the figure has been updated more recently, and (d) identifying whether the news article quotes the statistic accurately or with any distortion.

Exercise 13: The Boolean Investigation Using Boolean operators, construct a search strategy to investigate the claim "Schools that have banned smartphones have seen significant improvements in academic performance." Your search should find: (a) peer-reviewed studies on the topic, (b) policy analyses, (c) news reporting on specific school districts, and (d) counterarguments or conflicting evidence. Document each query you run and what it returns.

Exercise 14: Date-Range Search for Context A claim from 2024 attributes a scientific position to a major health organization. Using date-range search operators (before:/after:), investigate: (a) what the organization's official position was before the period in question, (b) whether any change was announced, and (c) how the claim's context has evolved over time. Topic: choose a health claim your instructor assigns or select one from current news.

Part D: Image and Video Verification (Exercises 15–19)

Exercise 15: Reverse Image Search Comparison Your instructor will provide five images. For each image, run reverse image searches on: (a) Google Images, (b) TinEye, (c) Yandex Images. For each image and each tool, record: what the earliest appearance date is, what original context is revealed, and what the current claim about the image says. Create a comparison table showing where the tools agree and differ.

Exercise 16: Image Origin Investigation Find a photograph that is currently circulating on social media with a claim attached to it (instructor will provide or you find one from a current fact-check). Trace the image to its original source, determining: (a) the photographer or original publisher, (b) the date of original publication, (c) the original caption or description, and (d) how the caption has changed in subsequent uses.

Exercise 17: Video Keyframe Analysis Using the InVID/WeVerify browser extension, analyze a provided video clip: (a) Extract keyframes from the video at regular intervals (b) Run reverse image searches on at least three keyframes (c) Extract any embedded metadata from the video file (d) Identify at least two visual details (text, architecture, vehicles) that could assist in geolocation (e) Write a preliminary geolocation hypothesis based on your findings

Exercise 18: The Stock Photo Detection Collect five social media profile photos associated with accounts that have shared misinformation (from documented cases, not active campaigns). For each, run a reverse image search and determine: (a) Is the photo unique to this account? (b) Does it appear on stock photo sites? (c) Does it appear on other social media accounts? (d) Are there signs of AI generation? Write a brief account verification report.

Exercise 19: Before-and-After Documentation Choose an image that has been documented as misused in misinformation (find via Snopes, AFP Fact Check, or similar). Document: (a) the original image and its authentic caption, (b) how it was misused (which context it was placed in), (c) what visual analysis reveals about the mismatch between image and false caption, and (d) what the reverse image search process reveals. This exercise is designed to be done retrospectively so you have documented examples to learn from.

Part E: Geolocation and Domain Verification (Exercises 20–24)

Exercise 20: Google Maps Matching Your instructor will provide three photographs taken at publicly accessible locations. Using visual clues in the photographs (architecture, signage, landscape features, vegetation), attempt to identify the location of each photograph using Google Maps and Street View. Document: (a) the visual clues you identified, (b) your search strategy (how did you narrow the location?), (c) how many attempts were needed, and (d) your confidence level in the match.

Exercise 21: Shadow Analysis For a provided photograph taken outdoors in a location you have successfully geolocated (or use a photograph your instructor provides with location already known), perform a shadow analysis using SunCalc.org: (a) Identify a vertical object and measure its shadow direction (b) Determine compass direction from the image context (c) Identify what time of year is consistent with shadow length (d) Test whether the proposed date/time matches the photograph's claimed context

Exercise 22: WHOIS Investigation Your instructor will provide five domain names of mixed reliability (including at least two misinformation sites and at least two legitimate outlets). For each domain, perform a WHOIS lookup and record: (a) registration date, (b) registrar country, (c) privacy protection status, (d) name servers. Cross-reference with Wayback Machine to see the site's history. Write a credibility assessment based solely on structural domain information (without reading content).

Exercise 23: Wayback Machine Audit Choose a website that you suspect may have changed its identity or purpose over time. Conduct a Wayback Machine audit: (a) find the earliest snapshot, (b) identify the original purpose and content of the site, (c) document any major changes in content, design, or stated mission, (d) determine whether the current site accurately represents its own history. Write a 300-word summary of your findings.

Exercise 24: Lookalike Domain Identification Search for lookalike domains for three major news organizations (e.g., CNN, BBC, The New York Times). For each: (a) identify at least two possible typosquatting domains (search using variations), (b) check whether those domains currently host content, (c) assess whether the content might be confused with the legitimate outlet, and (d) check WHOIS registration data for the suspicious domains. Report your findings in a structured format.

Exercise 25: Quote Investigator Methodology Choose five quotes from the following list and trace each to its earliest verified source using Quote Investigator, Wikiquote, and Google Books Ngram Viewer. For each quote, report: (a) the commonly attributed speaker, (b) the actual documented origin, (c) how the misattribution arose, and (d) the earliest print occurrence you can find. - "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" (attr. Einstein) - "Be the change you wish to see in the world" (attr. Gandhi) - "It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled" (attr. Twain) - "Well-behaved women seldom make history" (attr. various) - "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" (attr. Gandhi)

Exercise 26: Social Media Account Analysis Your instructor will provide screenshots of three social media accounts (with personal identifying information removed). For each account, analyze: (a) account age and creation context, (b) posting frequency and patterns, (c) follower/following ratio, (d) topic focus and linguistic patterns, and (e) profile photo (described only). Write a 200-word authenticity assessment for each account, noting your uncertainty.

Exercise 27: The Misattribution Audit Search Twitter/X or Facebook for five quotes attributed to famous historical figures (Einstein, Lincoln, Churchill, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin). For each, use Quote Investigator and Wikiquote to determine if the attribution is accurate. Calculate the misattribution rate in your sample. Reflect: what does this rate tell you about the reliability of quotation-sharing behavior on social media?

Exercise 28: Full Verification Report Select a recent viral claim (approved by your instructor). Produce a complete verification report that includes: (a) The original claim and its source (b) SIFT analysis documentation (c) Lateral reading findings with all sources checked (d) Advanced search queries used and results (e) Image/video verification (if applicable) (f) Domain analysis of the source (g) Social media account analysis (if applicable) (h) Quote verification (if applicable) (i) Final verdict with confidence level and reasoning (j) Limitations of your analysis

The report should be 800-1,200 words and fully document your methodology so that someone else could reproduce your findings.

Reflection Questions

After completing the exercises in this chapter, consider:

Which verification technique did you find most surprising in its effectiveness? Why?
Which technique did you find most difficult to apply, and what would help you improve?
Identify a situation in your daily online life where you now realize you should have verified more carefully. What would you do differently?
How has working through these exercises changed (or not changed) your intuitions about what makes a source trustworthy?