Lateral reading is one of many source evaluation techniques that you will want to employ in your research. Lateral reading involves going outside of a resource to discover the reception of that resource within the wider conversation.
A great way to perform lateral reading is to perform simple internet searches for the article title, author name(s), institutions supporting the research or affiliated with the author(s), the publisher, and the publication.
When performing lateral reading, consider that authority in one field of study does not necessarily translate to other disciplines.
Authority is constructed and contextual—e.g., a professor of physical chemistry affiliated with a prestigious research institution has an authority when publishing in The Journal of Chemical Physics. However, that authority by no means carries over to publications by the same professor in the field of literary criticism or cultural anthropology.
Learn more about lateral reading—and other useful approaches—in our guide Source Evaluation Techniques.
SIFT is a lateral reading and fact-checking approach which was designed in response to the nature of information dissemination on the internet.
Acknowledge any emotional reaction to the content; identify claims that are being made.
Investigate the creator of this content: who are they? As you develop an understanding of who they are and what they tend to stand for, try to find out why they might have created this content.
Find better coverage! Better in this context means more accurate, more reliable, more comprehensive; with breaking news and cutting edge research, finding better coverage might mean waiting for more research and reporting to be done!
Trace quotes, claims, and media to their original context; spend some time evaluating the sources being cited, and try to determine whether the information in those sources is being accurately represented.
Learn more about SIFT—and other useful approaches—in our guide Source Evaluation Techniques.