A three-pass source check before you share

Finding information is easy. Deciding what deserves your confidence takes a little more work. A useful source check does not begin by asking whether a page looks professional. It begins with three passes: origin, evidence, and context. Pass one: identify the origin Find the person or organization responsible for the claim. Look for a named author, publication date, update date, editorial policy, and a way to contact the publisher. Then ask what the source is positioned to know. A regulator may be authoritative about its rules; a company may be authoritative about its own product; neither is automatically independent. Pass two: inspect the evidence Follow links until you reach the underlying document, dataset, study, filing, or direct statement. A page that links only to other summaries has not shown you the foundation of its claim. Check whether the evidence actually supports the specific conclusion and whether important limits were omitted. Pass three: restore context Search for independent confirmation. Compare the event date with the publication and update dates. Look for corrections, later decisions, or a newer version of the data. Separate verified facts from interpretation and opinion. This process will not make every question certain. It does make uncertainty visible—which is better than passing along a confident claim whose origin you cannot explain. UNESCO describes media and information literacy as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and use information critically and responsibly. The habit is simple: trace, inspect, compare, then decide whether to share. Sources UNESCO: Media and Information Literacy https://www.unesco.org/en/ami UNESCO: Media and information literacy policy guidelines https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/media and information literacy