Step 4Primary sourceWell documented
Trace the claim to its original context
Every claim has a source; go read it
On the timeline · around Step 4 ·
What happened
Follow the chain backward. A post cites an article, the article cites a study or a document, and the truth lives at the end of that chain. Open the original and check whether it actually says what the summary claims, whether numbers survived the retelling, and what got cropped out. Quotes, statistics, and images lose their context a little more at every hop.
Why it matters
This is the whole idea this site is built on: a claim is only as good as the source under it, read in its original context.
How we know
SIFT's fourth move: trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.
Sources
- Mike Caulfield. SIFT (The Four Moves) (2019) · Primary source (author-declared)hapgood.us · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link checked and content matched (Jul 2026)
See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.
Part of a guideHow to Fact-Check a Claim You Read Online6 steps · Read like a professional fact-checker: four moves that catch most bad claims in under two minutes.View all →