• The author is anonymous.If an author is unnamed, be suspicious. If the story were true, why wouldn’t the author put his or her name on it? However, anonymous stories may be a sign of bogusness, but not always.
• The author quotes a famous person. Quotes that are attributed to famous people can turn out to be false as well. By using a famous person’s name, the author may be trying to legitimize the fake news by making it appear to be supported by authoritative sources.
• The author loves using exclamation points!!! The author is trying to get an emotional response from you instead of appealing to your logic. The same applies to excessive use of capital letters.
• The fake news refers to a legitimate source that completely contradicts the information in the fake source.Some stories will invite readers to check out the claims, even providing a link to a respected source because they know most people won’t check the links. Verify claims. Warning: Phishing attempts have become more sophisticated, so before you click on a hyperlink in a suspicious email or article, make sure that it is in fact the correct URL and will bring you to the respected source you want. Try Googling for the outside source instead, if in doubt.
• The message is riddled with spelling errors.Why should you trust an author who is semi-illiterate?
• The message argues that it is NOT false.Be skeptical about any message that says, “This is NOT a hoax!”
• There’s math involved.Check it.

From: Factcheck.org at  https://goo.gl/nPCUi  (That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously.)

• Be careful of news websites ending in .com.co.  .co is the top level domain for Columbia. Also, com.co was introduced in 2010 as an alternative to the overly abundant .coms. However, most mainstream, reputable news sources have .com domains because they have been around long before 2010.
• In general, watch out for odd domain names since they generally signal suspect news sources.
• Bloggers might post articles under legitimate news brands, but they may not go through the same editing process.

• First, read the entire story. Many of these fake news sites know that people do not read the entire article. The beginning of the article may sound legitimate, but some of the articles start to get absurd further into the text.
• Check the credentials of the authors and other people responsible for the web site.
• Look for “About Us”, “Contact Us” and “Disclaimer” links to find out information about authors, editors, publishers.
• If the author makes a claim, try to do a search to verify that claim. Try to find the primary sources for the story. Sometimes the article provides links to primary sources knowing that most readers will not check them. You can do a Google search using search techniques such as limiting to site:edu. This will limit your results to .edu web sites that are hosted by an institution of higher learning. If you add  filetype:pdf , your results will be .pdf documents.
• Use vetted sources to fact check claims. Scholarly peers in the authors’ same discipline or editors at more popular publications review articles in the subscription databases that instructors encourage students to use. These databases can be accessed at http://library.fullcoll.edu/databases/ Information sources should have been through a review process that increases the likelihood of their reliability.
• Check to see if there are other mainstream sources that are reporting on the same topic. If you do not find other sources reporting on a story that should be making the news, it’s probably false.
• Look for a strong bias in the story. News articles should try to be balanced; they should not be appealing to your emotions with inflammatory language.
• Check the date to see if you have the most up-to-date information.
• Look for the story on some of the fact-checking, de-bunking web sites listed on the Online Resources page.

• The source is The Seattle Tribune. If you Google Seattle Tribune to find out more information about this news source, you’ll discover that it’s a satirical web site.
• There are no links for “About us”. Look for the author. When clicking on the editing staff link, there is no information for the responsible authors. This is usually a sign of an unreliable site if there is no information about authors or editors.
• The Disclaimer link states that the Seattle Tribune is a news and entertainment satire site.

Try to fact check the claim. Did Obama sign an Executive Order on fake news outlets? Verify with primary sources if possible.

• On the surface, the news story may seem legitimate. The text links to outside sources that would appear to verify their claims. However, if you check the primary source (the Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov/) and take the extra necessary step of  verifying the content of Executive Order 13749, you’ll discover that the executive order is actually entitled, “Providing for the Appointment in the Competitive Service of Certain Employees of the Foreign Service” and has nothing to do with fake news web sites.

Check to see if mainstream news sources reported on the same issue or event.

• Search the library databases that include current newspaper articles. You will find that no reputable newspaper or magazine reported that Obama signed an Executive Order 13749 about banning fake news sites because it never happened.
• Take note of the advertising. Reputable mainstream news sources will not accept advertisements that might be offensive such as ads about women seeking American boyfriends.

• http://www.snopes.com/
• http://www.factcheck.org/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker
• http://www.politifact.com/
• https://www.opensecrets.org/
• http://retractionwatch.com/
• https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

1. https://goo.gl/kptZdW
2. https://goo.gl/cF8owK
3. https://goo.gl/bLfraS
4. https://goo.gl/Widpwi

• If you see a blue badge on a Page or profile, it means that Facebook confirmed that this is the authentic Page or profile for this public figure, media company or brand. Keep in mind that not all public figures, celebrities and brands on Facebook have blue badges.
• If you see a gray badge on a Page, it means that Facebook confirmed that this is an authentic Page for this business or organization.

• The breaking news at the top is outdated. This screenshot was taken on April 1, 2017, but the news dates from 2016.
• When a reader tries to click on the About Us or Contact links, they go nowhere.
• This fake news page is very tricky because many of the links lead to the real NBC News site. However, a tip-off is the change in URL from http://www.nbcnews.center to http://www.nbcnews.com which is the real address for NBC News. Notice that the real NBC News site has a different interface design than the fake site. Also, reputable news sources will accept advertisements from mainstream companies such as IBM or Holiday Inn Express, not sex ads that you might sometimes see on fake news sites.

• Reputable news sources will not promote products as part of their story, only as separate paid advertisements or commercials.

• Try to find articles or studies about Intelleral in a subscription database such as EBSCOhost (at http://library.fullcoll.edu/databases/).
• At the bottom of the article, it says, Editors Note: As of Sunday, March 19, 2017, Intelleral is currently IN STOCK.  News editors would not be commenting on the availability of a product. This fake news article is one large sales pitch.