Misinformation and Fake News

Strategies to help students understand and spot misinformation

Library Resources

Library resources have a greater likelihood of containing credible and reliable information.

For these databases at the end of the provided links, you will need to use your UCalgary credentials for access.

British Library newspapers This link opens in a new window
The British Library Newspapers collection contains full runs of 48 newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth century Britain. This new collection includes national and regional newspapers, as well as those from both established country or university towns and the new industrial powerhouses of the manufacturing Midlands, as well as Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Special attention was paid to include newspapers that helped lead particular political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule. The penny papers aimed at the working and clerical classes are also present in the collection.
- Newspaper images can be magnified for easier reading or reduced for on screen navigation. You can save and print article images, create persistent links and email them to others. When trying to print entire newspaper pages, you will need to tile them to make them legible given the differing paper size between newsprint and common office paper sizes.
Canadian Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Canadian Newsstream provides users with unmatched access to current Canadian news content with archives as far back as the 1970s, from over 360 news sources.
- Coverage is selectively from 1985 to the present.
- Includes fulltext of articles.
Factiva This link opens in a new window
Provides worldwide full text coverage of local and regional newspapers, trade publications, business newswires, press release wires, media transcripts, news photos, business-rich Web sites, investment analyst reports, market research reports, country and regional profiles, company profiles, historical market data.
- Due to license restrictions, access is limited to 6 simultaneous users.
- Interface in English, German, French or Chinese; contents in 22 languages.
New York Times This link opens in a new window
Covers regional, national, and international news events. Features articles on politics, business, science, medicine, sports, arts, technology, fashion, dining, and entertainment.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides cover-to-cover full text for hundreds of national (U.S.), international and regional newspapers. In addition, it offers television and radio news transcripts from major networks.
- Coverage is from about 1994 to the present.
- Includes fulltext articles

Books on Fake News

Book cover, white background, in centre, black & white image of a woman screaming in panic, surrounded by squiggles representing radio waves reaching out like sun beams

Book Cover inspired by the US government posters, red and blue with the black & white portraits of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert overlapping like a person with two-heads

Book cover is an old TV test screen with the title centred on a black label with transparent letters.

Book cover of an ancient Roman-like pillar under water, surrounded by fish and sun rays glowing into the deep blue.

Calgary Public Library

Also check out this list of resources from Calgary Public Library.

Fact-checking Websites

Digital Literacy

MediaSmarts
Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy

Browser Plug-In

Fake News Detector
This is a Chrome browser plug-in you can add to help determine if what you are reading is fake news.
Many other web browsers also have a selection of fake news rating systems as well.

Libraries & Cultural Resources

Research Guides