Let's face it: no matter how much you hate 'research', sooner or later, you're going to need to look up some background. Everybody keeps going on at you about 'avoiding fake news', 'checking your facts', 'using reliable sources', etc. So how do you do it?

First of all, let's not do it the schoolkid way.

Teacher assigns a report on the sinking of Titanic. 500 words, due tomorrow, write neatly, etc. Now, back in 1967, the homework project went like this:

1. Curse inwardly, because this will eat into TV time, and Batman's on tonight.
2. Try to find Dmitri and copy his homework.
3. Find out Dmitri's in the library, doing research. As you have resolved to stay out of that evil locality until a warm place freezes over, give up on Dmitri. Besides, the big words in that report will be a dead giveaway that you didn't write it yourself.
4. Run home, eat snacks, and goof around until after Batman.
5. Remember homework assignment. Curse.
6. Run to bookshelf. Pick up Funk & Wagnalls' Encyclopedia, the one your mom is buying for $1 a volume, on a weekly basis, at the grocery store. The one mentioned in the jokes on Laugh In when they say, 'Look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls.'
7. Realise that Mom hasn't bought the 'T' volume yet. Fume.
8. Get up early and take the bus to school. Break down and use the library.
9. Look up 'Titanic' in a random encyclopedia (one that's not too heavy). Copy the first 500 words of the encyclopedia article. Change the sentence order in two of them. That makes it not plagiarism, right?
10. Turn in 'report'. Act outraged when it comes back marked 'D minus'. After all, you researched, right?
11. Resolve to beat up Dmitri for not being around when needed. What are geeks for, anyway?

Same scenario, 2017:

1. Copy homework assignment on iPad. Look smug.
2. Type 'Titanic' into the Google line. Spend half an hour watching Youtubes involving parodies of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio goofing off on the bow of the ship.
3. Remember assignment.
4. Go back to Google. Take first three websites on Titanic disaster that don't involve Leonardo DiCaprio.
5. Remember that the teacher hates Wikipedia, and pick one alternate website.
6. Copy one paragraph from each website and paste into Word program.
7. Remember to run Spellcheck.
8. Turn in completed 'report'.
9. Get A. Feel smug. Who needs Greatuncle Dmitri, anyway?

Okay. Don't do this.

And yet I show unto you a more excellent way¹

Fact-checking for grownups:

1. Although the schoolteachers won't let the kids use Wikipedia, it can be a useful resource. A great deal of it these days is copied and pasted from out-of-print books. Read the footnotes. Then head over to a library or the Internet Archive to read the source.
2. When the newspaper editor says, 'You need three sources to verify,' that editor does not mean 'three sources that got their information from the same place.' Be alert for signs that the first three or four Google pages are all reporting the same source. Look for similar headlines or identical wording. You know what's a dead giveaway? A footnote with the same misspelled name. That's what we ancient palaeographers call 'scribal error'.
3. So get three different sources. If it's history, it's a good idea to try to find a primary source, something from the period in question (if possible), and a more modern source, just in case 'new facts have come to light'.
4. You're a grownup. Use your grownup noodle. If you can't tell that Breitbart News and Fox News are probably going to be singing from the same hymnbook, while NPR and Mother Jones may have significant variations on a story. . . well, just go away. You shouldn't be reading this, or writing 'reports'.
5. Bias is not evil. Lying is evil, but bias is normal. Learn to identify bias and take it into account. Let's face it: Bernie Sanders is a known fan of Eugene V Debs. When he gets on the subject of socialism, he has a particular point of view. This is his right as a human being. Just be aware of it. Try to be savvy about the reasons for bias. If you notice bias, do some quick research to find out why. For example, if Mother Jones writes something bad about filmmaker Michael Moore, type 'Mother Jones Michael Moore' into Google. You'll probably find out pretty quickly that the magazine once hired Moore as an editor – and then fired him in short order. This might affect the way you read its coverage. And look: Spartacus Educational is a truly wonderful historical resource. Just stop for two seconds and think about the name 'Spartacus'. Are the writers going to be really, really neutral when they talk about the House Un-American Activities Committee? Just be aware.
6. When reading online sources, keep in mind: spelling counts. Grammar counts. For one thing, it tells you whether anybody's proofread the mess in front of you, or whether the screed just flowed from the fingers of the ranter. Sloppy copy may come from sloppy work.
7. Don't just read things you agree with. Read things you disagree with. Try to figure out what facts/opinions/moods are behind the opposing view. Weigh and measure. Avoid being herded. It's your mind: take charge.

Yeah. Grownups take longer to write 500 words than most high schoolers. But then, grownups sometimes get paid for it. And age confers responsibility. Write A papers.

Writing Right with Dmitri Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

27.03.17 Front Page

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