S     Source:

• Where did the story come from? 
• Is it a reputable news source?

M    Motive  

• Why do they say so?  Do they have a special interest or bias that may cause them to slant information

A   Authority

• Who is the author of the story?
• What are their credentials?

R   Review

• Go over the story carefully
• Does it make sense?

T   Two-source test

• Check for other sources about the story.
• Does the two-source test confirm or contradict the story? 

SMART comes from the University of Washington Libraries

1. It can't be verified   A fake news article may or may not have links in it tracing its sources; if it does, these links may not lead to articles outside of the site's domain or many not contain information pertinent to the article topic.

2. Fake news appeals to emotion: Fake news plays on your feelings - it makes you angry or happy or scared. This is to ensure you won't do anything as pesky as fact-checking.

3. Authors usually aren't experts: Most authors aren't even journalists, but paid trolls.

4. It can't be found anywhere else: If you look up the main idea of a fake news article, you might not find any other news outlet (real or not) reporting on the issue.

5. Fake news comes from fake sites: Did your article come from abcnews.co? or mercola.com? Realnewsrightnow.com? These and a host of other URLs are fake news sites.

How good are you are detecting fake news?  Take these quizzes to find out:

Washington Post: Know Your News Quiz

BuzzFeed: Can You Tell the Hoax News Stories from the Real Ones?

Just what constitutes the News.  The following articles have some answers

• News from Key Concepts in Journalism Studies - Credo Reference (access requires a SVC logon and password)
• News from Wikipedia (this is a secure article from Wikipedia - editing is not allowed)

Questions to ask when evaluating information:

Currency: the timeliness of information

• When was the information published or posted?
• Has the information been revised or updated?
• Is the information current or out-of date for your topic?
• Are the links functional?

Relevance: the importance of the information for your needs:

• What is the website about?
• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Is the information at an appropriate level (i.e. not too elementary or advanced for your needs)?
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before determining this is one you will use?
• Would you be comfortable using this source for a research paper?

Authority: the source of the information

• Who is the author/publisher/source/sponsor?
• Are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's credentials or organizational affiliations given?
• What are the author's qualifications to write on the topic?
• Is there contact information, such as a publisher or e-mail address?
• Does the URL reveal anything about the author or source?

Accuracy: the correctness, truthfulness and reliability of the content:

• Where did the information come from? Did the author cite any sources?
• Double-check statistics and facts with other reliable sources – library databases, encyclopedias, almanacs, etc.
• Are there spelling, grammar or other typographical errors?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?

Purpose: the reason the information exists   

• Why was this source created? To sell, inform, persuade?
• Check language, content of page for bias.
• If advertising is present on a page, is it separate from the informational content?
• Check to see what the point of view is of the author or the sponsoring organization:
  • Look for “About the Author” or “About Us” links
  • Shorten the URL to find out about hosting site
  • Search for author/organization in search engines
  • Search for author/organization in periodical databases like EBSCO and ProQuest