How To Fact-Check
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Whether you’re an editor wanting to offer a fact-checking service or a content creator or marketer needing to ensure the accuracy and quality of your materials, How To Fact-Check will give you the tools and knowledge you need to offer clients even more value. Become a skilled fact-checker, create trustworthy content in the AI age, and unlock job opportunities verifying digital content.
Learn How to Fact-Check Professionally and Champion Trustworthy Content
Create Trustworthy Content with Our Fact-Checking Course
In today’s digital world, misinformation spreads like wildfire, causing confusion and mistrust among those seeking reliable sources of information. By learning how to identify those sources, analyze complex data sets, and effectively apply fact-checking tools and processes, you can ensure that accurate information takes precedence over biased or misleading narratives. Here’s what you can expect to learn from our course:
- How to identify facts requiring validation, select reliable source material, and draw conclusions
- How to fact-check and mitigate the risks of AI-generated content
- How to discern between accurate and misleading content, including fake news and deepfakes
- What different industries expect from fact-checkers and how to gain the right experience to meet these needs
- How to analyze complex data sources and recognize bias in data
- How unchecked content might affect the quality and credibility of you and your client
Who Is This Fact-Checking Course For?
Master fact-checking as a content creator or editor if you aspire to…
Enhance your resume and build a new career
- Create a new AI fact-checking service to offer your clients
- Analyze complex raw data with confidence, and recognize bias across different data types
- Draw well-founded conclusions from your research, and confidently share your findings with clients or colleagues
Become a trusted source of accurate information
- Improve the quality of your brand’s or client’s content by implementing our step-by-step fact-checking process
- Learn how to identify reliable sources and data
- Navigate through vast amounts of information, and improve your critical-thinking skills
Combat false information and fake news
- Recognize image, video, and audio manipulation, including deepfakes
- Explore tools to verify content before publishing on social media profiles or websites
- Know what questions to ask to assess the veracity of different content types
Fact-Checking Course
6 modules, 17 lessons, 4 case studies, and 6 fact-checking exercises
Our course doesn’t just develop your fact-checking skills. Immersive content is paired with try-it-yourself exercises to help you feel confident navigating and executing different stages of the process.
Comprehensive content
Learn the foundations of fact-checking, explore techniques and tools for recognizing manipulated content, and discover how to develop your experience in this new area.
Interactive by design
Crafted to keep you fully engaged, our course includes try-it-yourself exercises so you can practice your new skills. Use featured tools such as Google Lens, and explore real-life examples including news outlets that share unchecked facts.
Built by experienced fact-checkers
Our course was devised by industry-leading writers and editors in consultation with tech professionals with rich fact-checking experience.
Readily available support
Need assistance with a tech problem? Seeking clarification? Our team of friendly tutors is here to support your progress throughout the course.
100% self-paced learning
With lifetime access, there’s no need to rush through the course. You can study at your own pace and convenience. Plus, a self-assessed assignment ensures a stress-free learning experience.
Actionable, step-by-step guidance
Learn everything about the fact-checking process. We break it down into three essential steps, providing detailed guidance with the help of case studies and interactive exercises.
- No sign up
- No payment info
- No hidden costs
Try Two Lessons For Free
Enter your email below and get instant access to two lessons from the full course.
How Does This Fact-Checking Course Work?
Here’s what to expect after starting the course:
Get acquainted with fact-checking foundations
You’ll start by learning the fundamentals of fact-checking and understanding its importance in the age of AI. Then you’ll explore how fact-checking enhances the overall quality and credibility of your content, setting you apart from competitors.
Did you know? A Gallup study found that 38% of Americans have no trust in the mass media, which highlights the need for independent fact-checking and verification.
Take an in-depth, step-by-step look at the fact-checking process
With the foundations laid, we will break the fact-checking process into three key steps. You’ll learn how to identify which “facts” should be checked, how to analyze each one, and how to draw conclusions and share your findings. We also take a detailed look at how to fact-check AI-generated content.
Did you know? A survey by Ipsos found that among the 86% of global online citizens who were exposed to fake news, nine out of ten initially believed the news was real.
Learn how to deal with data and verify manipulated content
In this part of the course, you’ll learn how fact-checkers work with complex data sets in lessons illustrated by detailed case studies and interactive exercises. Then we’ll discuss how images, videos, and audio can be manipulated and teach you how to recognize deepfakes, misinformation, and fake news. We’ll conclude the course with insights into what industries expect from fact-checkers and how to gain valuable experience.
Did you know? In the last module, you’ll take a self-assessed final assignment, which will prepare you for real-life scenarios.
Accurate fact-checking is essential for elevating an editor’s credibility. But as there is so much fake news around these days, I think it will also help me in my daily life.
“As a proofreader and editor, I was aware that I was often spending way more time than the paycheck warranted on fact-checking. Also, searching for reliable sources to identify accurate data, when conflicting information exists on different sites, was frustrating. The course provided a systematic approach to fact-checking and explained how to identify reliable sources. It was easy to follow, and the chapter quizzes were helpful to ensure I was retaining what I was learning. The course content was thorough and clearly presented. Much of my work involves proofreading and editing AI-generated content, and I predict this will only become more prevalent. Efficient fact-checking is therefore crucial!”
The course has taught me, as an editor, to look at even mundane facts with an eye to accuracy and truth. Outside of work, the course has enhanced my awareness of both the potential and the power of AI to influence words and images.
“In the emerging age of AI, my challenge was knowing what to be suspicious of online.
The AI section of the course was great at showing me how to discern AI-generated content, especially images and video. The course is well-designed, and the lessons flow well. The quizzes and exercises relate directly to the course content and are realistic examples of fact-checking situations you might encounter.”
This course greatly increased my confidence in fact-checking
“This year, several of my clients began producing AI-generated content for me to edit. Suddenly, fact-checking became a huge part of my work, and I began to wonder if my fact-checking skills were still relevant. This course ended up being a wonderful overview of the fact-checking process, and it greatly increased my confidence in this area. I particularly appreciated the suggestions it gave for rewording misleading statements and enjoyed learning about how the fact-checking process varies according to industry and medium.”
I now have a toolbox for fact-checking at work and in daily life!
“I didn’t realize there was so much involved with fact-checking. Through the Knowadays course, I learned the importance of looking more deeply at evidence to verify facts in written work as well as images, audio clips, and videos.”
Fact-Checking Course Curriculum
Get a sneak peek into each information-packed module:
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Module 1: Introducing How To Fact-Check
Module 1 introduces you to the course, providing you with a clear understanding of its structure and objectives. You’ll receive an overview of the importance of fact-checking and verification and learn how to navigate the course, the assessment process, quizzes, and interactive exercises. -
Module 2: Fact-Checking Basics
Module 2 explores the fundamentals of fact-checking. Firstly, we’ll cover why fact-checking is such a valuable editorial process, as well as how it sits alongside other forms of editing. Then we’ll focus on verification, explaining how it differs from fact-checking. Lastly, we’ll explore the fact-checking landscape, covering how fact-checking is used in several industries. -
Module 3: How To Fact-Check
Module 3 takes an in-depth, step-by-step look at the fact-checking process. We’ll break this process into three key steps and cover each in detail with case studies and interactive exercises. We’ll explore how to identify which “facts” should be checked, how to analyze each fact by using a range of source materials, and how to draw conclusions and share your findings. We’ll also take a detailed look at how to fact-check AI-generated content. -
Module 4: Dealing With Data
Module 4 is about how fact-checkers work with numerical and complex data sets. In this module, we’ll cover different types of data, including qualitative versus qualitative, and how content creators use this data. We’ll also discuss, step-by-step, how fact-checkers should approach checking content that draws on complex numerical data. This module includes detailed case studies and interactive exercises to illustrate how fact-checkers work with datasets. -
Module 5: Verification
Module 5 explores how images, video, and audio content can be manipulated and the possible danger this causes. We discuss deepfakes, misinformation, and fake news. The second half of the module then provides a detailed explanation of how to verify the veracity of different types of content, how to identify features that might suggest it’s fraudulent, and what tools you can use during the verification process. -
Module 6: Finding Work And The Final Assignment
Module 6 is for those interested in finding a professional fact-checking or verification job. We discuss how to gain experience as well as what various industries expect from those applying for roles. This module also includes the final self-assessed assignment.
Why Is Our Fact-Checking Course Better Than the Competition?
See how we compare with other fact-checking courses.
Fact-checking course
Meet Our Friendly Tutors
Our dedicated team is here to support you every step of the way during your course. Feel free to reach out to them, and they’ll be happy to assist you.
Hear from Our Graduates
A strong foundation in fact-checking and the ability to publish truthful, high-quality content – they gained all this and more by taking our course.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Fact-Checking Course
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Why are fact-checking and media literacy important?
Fact-checking and media literacy are essential skills in the digital age. A huge amount of information is published every day, some of which is misleading or even completely false. Fact-checking and media literacy are crucial in combating this kind of misinformation and the harm it can cause.
Fact-checking ensures the credibility of information, while media literacy empowers individuals to think critically about media messages, question sources, and practice informed decision-making.
Our course will help improve your fact-checking and media literacy skills so that you can navigate through vast amounts of information effectively. You’ll learn how to discern between accurate and misleading content, empowering you to make informed decisions and contribute to a responsible media landscape.
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How can I become a fact-checker?
Our course is the perfect place to start your fact-checking career or gain valuable new skills for your tool kit.
How To Fact-Check is designed to equip new and experienced content creators, writers, journalists, and researchers with the skills to fact-check and verify their own work and that of others.
It will help you develop the critical skills required to identify and assess unreliable content and examine questionable facts and claims – skills that are essential in a world increasingly shaped by technology, especially AI.
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How can I spot fake news?
To spot fake news, we recommend checking the identity of the author, verifying the credibility of the source, and cross-checking the information with other reliable outlets. It’s important to pay attention to the quality and consistency of the material, including dates, bias, and the use of images or videos. You can also use fact-checking websites as helpful resources to debunk viral misinformation.
In Module 5 of our course, you’ll learn how to ascertain the veracity of different types of content, how to identify features that might suggest it’s inaccurate, and what tools you can use during the verification process.
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Who can take this course?
Anyone can take this course, but it’s tailor-made for content creators (writers, journalists, or podcasters), editors, or those interested in starting a career in fact-checking and verification who want to understand the industry and build up foundational skills.
To take the course, you’ll need:
- A laptop or desktop computer
- Internet access
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How long will it take to complete the course? Can I start the fact-checking course at any time?
On average, our fact-checking course takes around 20 hours to complete. You can start the fact-checking course as soon as you receive access, and there are no time limits on completion.
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With so many fact-checking courses available, how do I know this is the right one?
While a lot of courses focus on the basics of fact-checking, our course considers fact-checking fundamentals as well as more complex skills, such as working with data sets and verifying images and videos.
You may also want to check if the course you’re considering covers both fact-checking and verification as related skill sets and whether it includes instruction on fact-checking content generated by AI. Our course includes a step-by-step guide to fact-checking output from AI models, and it teaches you about the risks unique to AI-generated content.
Many courses focus on a specific industry, such as journalism, so it’s worth seeing which ones look at how to fact-check for a range of industries (e.g., journalism, podcasting, and publishing).
Also, depending on your preferred way of learning, check if the course offers real-life examples or practical exercises. (Spoiler alert – our course does!)
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Do I need any qualifications or previous experience to enroll in the course?
You don’t need any qualifications, but you’ll gain more from the course if you have some experience of writing and editing.
If you feel you need to learn more about content creation before taking this fact-checking course, we recommend our other CPD-accredited courses:
- Becoming A Proofreader
- Becoming An Editor
- Becoming A Freelance Writer
These expert-written courses will provide a solid foundation for you to capitalize on taking a fact-checking course.
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Who can I discuss my questions and doubts with?
We’re always happy to chat about whether our courses are right for you. Please get in touch on [email protected], and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.
