Fact-checking · 2/6
Restore the original context
Trace quotations to full materials and inspect what was omitted.
About 15–20 minutes. The following cases are fictional.
Record your first judgment
A poster says a director admitted a project failed. It quotes “this trial did not meet the target”, omitting a low-temperature qualification and a plan to test another approach.
Understand the judgment process
Trace repost to article to full interview or document. The earliest page you find is the earliest located record, not necessarily the first publication. State where the trail stops.
Read surrounding sentences, section headings and qualifiers. One unsuccessful trial does not automatically mean a failed project. Restored context clarifies scope without validating every explanation given by the speaker.
Distinguish quotation from paraphrase, promises from hypotheticals, and current facts from plans. In translation, check negation, conditions and degree. Preserve page, section or timestamp, not only a website link.
Checks you can perform
- Map each item to what it cites.
- Find the full record where possible.
- Compare wording and surrounding conditions.
- Separate established speech from added inference.
Guided practice
What is established and unresolved in the project poster?
Explore the explanation
If the interview is authentic, a particular trial missed its target. A claim about the whole project exceeds that quotation. Overall performance needs further evidence; context restoration does not establish success.
Apply it in a new context
A paper says it observed an association, while a headline says scientists proved the cause. What belongs in the record?
Compare after attempting
Preserve the paper’s wording and location, and inspect what the design supports. Identify the strengthened causal language without dismissing the observed association.
Preserve a revision record
An original source resolves provenance and context, not automatically the truth of every assertion within it.
Check whether you supplied inspectable evidence, a feasible next step and revision conditions. Revealing an answer is not mastery.
Source and scope
Reuters — Journalistic Standards
The source provides conceptual or methodological background. Cases, steps and exercises are authored here; they are not the original experiment or evidence of this course’s effectiveness.
Completion is a personal record, not proof of mastery or certification.