Fact-Checking Resources
Basic Facts
The World Factbook provides basic information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 258 world entities.
Raw data collected from government census reports.
Current government demographic, housing, economic, and other data. (Can be more user-friendly than the US Census Bureau website but does not offer historic data.)
Massachusetts DOR Blue Book Reports
Monthly reports of state tax and other revenue collected by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR). (These are available for other states as well.)
A search engine specifically for factual queries, such as conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit, the date of specific events, or the budget of a specific movie.
A digital archive of the internet, archiving cached web pages since at least 1995. This allows you to view webpages as they existed at a specific point in time, even if the information has since changed.
The full and correct text of well-known and famous quotations (particularly ones that tend to circulate with errors online). Access is available through BU Libraries.
Libraries
Search books, databases, journals, newspapers, and more. Also, librarians are available to help you.
An online digital library with over 100,000 scholarly ebooks, a set of online database collections, sheet music, government documents, and more.
(online access through BU Libraries)
Boston Public Library (BPL) holds more than 23 million items, estimated to be among the three largest collections in the country, including books, maps, manuscripts, letters, drawings, and other original works dating back as early as the 10th century. Anyone who lives or works in Massachusetts can apply for an ecard on the BPL website.
Part of the Boston Public Library, this website brings together digitized materials from hundreds of libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives across the state, including photographs, manuscripts, books, audio recordings, maps, postcards, and other historical artifacts from Massachusetts institutions.
The largest library in the world. While they have a lot of items available online, only a small percentage of their holdings have been digitized. However, you can search their catalogue or view their digital collections online.
The Research Our Records section of the National Archives website provides access to military records, presidential records, information about Congress, genealogy information, and more.
Searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text, and stored in its digital database.
Boston University
Boston University Year Book 1889
This is a text that President Gilliam has previously quoted in her emails.
Through the BU Libraries system, you can access many BU documents, including records, yearbooks, lectures, and books written about the University. You may need to access these items in person at Mugar.
Newspaper & Journal Access
External Affairs has a paid subscription. If you need access for work, please check with your team to see if someone has the login info. If not, check with the Operations department to see if you can be granted access.
External Affairs has a paid subscription. If you need access for work, please check with your team to see if someone has the login info. If not, check with the Operations department to see if you can be granted access.
For individual news articles that you know the URL for but may be behind a paywall. Similar to the Wayback Machine, this site allows you to get around the paywalls by letting you view a snapshot of a website in time. If you find an article you need to view and it is behind a paywall, paste the URL into archive.is and you will be able to view it. (An exception to this use is brand-new articles, as there likely hasn’t been time yet for a snapshot. Usually after 24 hours, the article will be viewable here.)
Also, many newspapers and journals are available via BU Libraries (see above).
Images
A reverse image search.
Search images on the web.
STEM-Specific Resources
Information about food, drugs, supplements, pesticides, research, compliance, and more.
US Energy Information Administration (EIA)
The EIA collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy data and other information, including facts about oil, gas, and renewables.
Government information and data about medical trials.
News & Current Events
Focuses on fact-checking political claims. Focuses on debunking false and misleading information.
The oldest (b.1994) and largest fact-checking site online, widely regarded by journalists, folklorists, and readers as an invaluable research companion. Useful for checking if something well-known (particularly a viral event) is true or not.
A Note about Wikipedia
Wikipedia can save you a lot of time, but never use Wikipedia as your only source. Most Wikipedia entries have links to outside sources. Use a Wikipedia entry as a starting place, but use the source notes (see below) to assess and verify facts.
