Lateral reading: a core skill for the information age

  • 4 minutes

Before diving into Search Progress, let's talk about one of the most important research skills students can learn: lateral reading.

When students find a source online, their natural instinct is often to stay on that page and evaluate it based on what they see—the design, the "About" page, whether it looks professional. This feels thorough, but it's actually what the source wants you to do.

Lateral reading flips this approach. Instead of reading deeply on one page, learners:

  • Leave the page-Open new browser tabs
  • Search for context-Look up the author, organization, or claims elsewhere
  • See what others say-Find out if credible, independent sources vouch for this one

This is how professional fact-checkers actually work. They don't trust a source just because it looks good—they verify it by checking what the rest of the web says about it. And research shows that lateral readers are significantly better at identifying unreliable sources than people who read deeply on a single page.

Try it (5 minutes): Choose one source students might find for a common topic. Practice lateral reading by opening 2-3 new tabs: one for the author/organization, one for outside coverage, and one for a primary source or dataset (if available).

How to read laterally

For an introduction to the concept of lateral reading, explore this video (runtime 3 minutes, 33 seconds).

Step What to do
Leave the page Open new tabs and keep searching for context. Don't get stuck on the source itself.
Check the source Who created this? Search for the author or organization and see what independent sources say about them—not just what the site says about itself.
Check purpose and intent Is this trying to inform, persuade, sell, or entertain? What perspective might shape what's included—or left out?
Cross-check key claims Do other credible sources say the same thing? Where do they agree? Where do they disagree? What context might be missing?
Find strong reference points When possible, trace claims back to primary sources—collected data, peer-reviewed research, official reports.

Learn more about lateral reading