Why Is Fact-Checking Important for Writers and Editors?

Why is fact-checking important? The answer is simple – in the digital age, misinformation and fake news are more common than ever before. Fact-checking is a vital stage in the content publishing process. It ensures that content is accurate, truthful, and legally and ethically sound.

There are a number of steps involved in fact-checking. These include:

• Identifying and researching facts, statements, and claims
• Interpreting and analyzing source materials
• Drawing and expressing conclusions based on research

Being aware of these steps is essential for anyone who works in content creation. In this blog post, we look at why fact-checking is important for writers and editors, and provide some tips on how writers and editors can fact-check effectively.

Why Is Fact Checking Important for Writers?

To succeed as a writer, you need to build your reputation. Producing well-written content is just one part of this – you also need to make sure your content is accurate and reliable. You want to become a trusted source of information!

If your content is trustworthy, readers are more likely to engage, whether that’s by sharing the content or making a conversion (like signing up for a newsletter or buying a product). And in turn, clients are more likely to offer you repeat work, or recommend you to others.

On the contrary, publishing inaccurate content can have massive repercussions for your reputation and your client’s business. This makes fact-checking a vital part of the research and writing process.

Fact-Checking Tips for Writers

Now that we’ve looked at why fact-checking is important for writers, here are some practical fact-checking tips.

1. Check the Source of Any Information You Cite

As you are conducting your research for a piece of content, you will likely end up with many different references and sources. Managing this can become challenging! However, it’s essential to keep track so that you can double-check the reliability and accuracy of your sources before publishing. This means making a note of:

• The name of the person who wrote or said the quote, and where/when they made that statement
• Any page numbers, if appropriate
• Corroborating or contradictory information

Using a reference management system can help you keep track of, and cite your sources appropriately. For more on managing your references, take a look at our blog post: Reference Management: A Guide for Freelance Writers.

2. Keep a Checklist of Common Errors

Similarly, you need to keep track of other key information in your content, and make sure it is used accurately and consistently throughout. Pay close attention to things like:

• People’s names and official titles
• Company and brand names
• Place names and locations
• Numbers (e.g. dates, measurements, statistics, prices, ages)
• Timeframes and sequences of events
• Quotations (i.e. who they are attributed to, and whether they are written exactly as spoken)

Even making a seemingly small mistake, like misspelling a name, can seriously call into question the reliability of your writing. Keeping a checklist of potential errors to look out for can help mitigate any potential mistakes. It’s a good idea to do this from the start. It will be time-consuming and challenging to go back once you are deep into the research and writing process.

Why Is Fact Checking Important for Proofreaders and Editors?

While we’ve mostly spoken about fact-checking for writers so far, it’s equally as important for editors and proofreaders to fact-check their clients’ work. Editors and proofreaders help their clients create high-quality content, and part of this is pointing out issues with accuracy and credibility. In doing so, they can help their clients avoid issues like misinformation and plagiarism.

Fact-Checking Tips for Proofreaders and Editors

Here are some fact-checking tips for editors and proofreaders.

1. Keep a Checklist of Common Errors

Much like writers, proofreaders and editors should keep a list of common errors to refer to when working on documents. This list shouldn’t include opinions or arguments, only things that are either correct or incorrect. As listed earlier in this blog post, this includes things like names of people, places, and business, dates of events, and other verifiable facts.

It’s common for proofreaders and editors to create a style sheet. A style sheet covers many of the same topics as a style guide does, but it’s created as a proofreader or editor is working. They will often use this to keep track of any errors and inconsistencies when working on longer documents, or a number of different documents for the same client.

2. Check Claims against Other Reputable Sources

As an editor, it’s important that you question what is in front of you – and that goes for more than the grammar or syntax. While fact-checking isn’t typically included as part of a proofreading or editing service, you should keep an eye out for any areas where claims may need to be checked against another reputable source. You can highlight these instances for your customer to handle. For example, you could suggest:

• Checking facts against at least two other credible sources
• Checking details like titles, names, and dates on Google
• Making sure that errors or inconsistencies are not duplicated elsewhere in the document

If you’re offering a full fact-checking service on top of proofreading and editing, ask your client for a list of sources they used in writing a document or piece of content. You can then use it as a basis to begin fact-checking the client’s work.

How To Fact-Check

Have you ever wondered how fact-checking works in the content publishing process? In our course How To Fact-Check, we will take you through fact-checking in much greater detail on how to identify reliable sources, analyze data, and apply fact-checking tools and processes.