News, Sources, and Fact-Checking: How to check the facts

An Internet site meant to track and confirm - or debunk - urban legends, Internet rumors, e-mail chains, and various other information shared on the Internet and by news organizations. Including references and other evidence, the goal of the site is to not merely confirm or deny certain snippets of information, but to provide evidence supporting their conclusions as well.

Run by a media outlet - the Tampa Bay Times - statements made by members of Congress, the White House, other branches of government, news media, Internet commentators, and others are scrutinized and evaluated for their truthfulness. From there, the statements are rated from "True" for completely accurate statements to "Pants on Fire" for false and ridiculous claims.

A project of the Annenberg foundation, FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit site that seeks to "reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics."

This article written by The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler provides invaluable tips on how to read an online article and other content like a true fact-checker. From determining legitimacy to clicking on links in the story, Kessler provides an overview of how to ensure you are getting the most correct news and information.

A reverse image search tool, Tineye can help determine if an image is original or has been edited by another user.

Another image search tool, this program offered by Amit Agarwal, a tech columnist and web developer allows users to track images to see if they are originals or have undergone editing by another party.

A computational knowledge engine, Wolfram Alpha answers user questions with curated data rather than pointing them to external links and documents. Users can find information such as the weather in their hometown on a certain date, socioeconomic data, check sports statistics, and a myriad of other data points.