Graded Fact-checking assignment (Detailed Instructions for Fact-checking Your Classmate’s Article). NOTE: It is best to hold this class for and give this assignment later in the semester when students have more in-depth stories to fact check.
- Your research prof will email you to assign you a classmate’s story to factcheck.
- Your grade will be assigned for how well you fact checked the story you were given.
Fact-checking assignment instructions/example:
You must fact check the entire article you get from your classmate, but below is an example of the format I’d like to see, using the first three sentences of this story:
By GREG B. SMITH , NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, OCT 04, 2016
- Assignment deadline – two weeks from date assigned.
- Highlight the fact (or facts) you are checking, (you can also do it in track changes mode in word) and then right below, or next to that fact:
- state whether the fact is correct,
- give the correct answer, and then
- list the authoritative source(s) [including links, phone numbers, emails, clear descriptions, etc.] that you used to find each correct answer.
- You are actually researching the facts, in order to confirm them. You can ask for the reporter’s notes.
- You DO NOT have to contact sources to confirm quotes. But if their quote contains an assertion of fact, you must check that fact.
- Please email professor with any questions.
Sample fact-checking format:
By GREG B. SMITH , NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, OCT 04, 2016
FACTS?: A maintenance worker lied on a form, claiming smoke detectors were fully functional in a Bronx apartment — four hours before two children died in a raging fire in the home, according to a city report released Tuesday.
CHECK: link to the report here, and annotate as follows: page 4 of the report states investigation determined Rivera was lying about smoke detectors. The residence was located in the Bronx, per page 3 of report. The children died three hours after time on report, not four hours, page 3. “Two-children died in a raging fire,” page 3. Report was released Tuesday, according to NYCHA Press website linked to press release here.
FACTS? The falsifying of records in the Bronx case led to a probe by the Department of Investigation that found lying about safety checks in NYCHA apartments was routine.
CHECK: the probe according to report linked above did conclude this, page 8. It was conducted by the agency department titled Department of Investigations, also according to the report, page 6.
FACTS? A recent random inspection
CHECK:
this is what the report says page 7
FACT? 240 apartments
CHECK: report says 220 apartments, on page 7]
FACTS? supposedly checked by maintenance workers in more than half the homes, there was at least one safety feature missing. That includes missing or broken smoke detectors.
CHECK: page 2 of report states: “In 106 out of 188 NYCHA apartments – 56% – DOI investigators observed deficiencies in one or more of the six critical safety items, including numerous missing smoke and CO detectors and missing or damaged fire safety notices.”