Fact-Checking Exercise
Instructions: For this exercise, students will view alleged factual statements taken from a list of five websites linked
on Canvas.
A. For each of the five statements, the student should type a brief summary, containing the following information:
1.What types of evidence does the website use to support the statement? Examples might include research studies,
polls and other statistics, statements of opinion or “naked claims,” analogies, interviews, and visual documentation (4
points each)
2.Trace the evidence provided for the statement. Where does the evidence ultimately come from, and are these
sources reliable? (4 points each)
3.What kind of political or other agendas might lie behind the website reporting the claim and the ultimate source of
the evidence for the claim? (4 points each)
4.Is the claim correct? Specify how you know, emphasizing external evidence. (4 points each)
• If yes: Is the claim incomplete or misleading? What is omitted but relevant to the discussion of the claim? (4 points
each)
• If no: What is the purpose of the false claim – or is it merely a mistake? (4 points each)
B. Attach a complete, APSA-formatted works cited page for the web pages themselves, the other pages and sources
you used to fact-check their claims, and any other resources requiring citation in the text. (-10 points if missing)
Here are the websites for the fact-checking exercise:
1. Grade Inflation Chart
https://www.vox.com/2014/9/29/6863877/grade-inflat…
2. Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
3. Did a 2002 Law Force the Separation of Children from their Parents?
https://fourmoves.blog/2018/06/19/did-a-2002-law-f…
4. The Letter of Last Resort
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2…
5. Organization Profiles — Fact-check the one for CAIR.
https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/money-polit…