Within Lateral Reading
Can students learn to read laterally?
Students improve when lateral reading becomes a practised action sequence rather than a vague reminder to be critical.
On this page
- What classroom studies tested
- Why practice and feedback matter
- How lessons turn scepticism into action
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Introduction
Students can learn to read laterally online, but they rarely acquire the habit simply by being told to “think critically”. Research from schools, colleges and teacher-development programmes shows that learners improve most when lateral reading is taught as a concrete sequence of actions: leave the unfamiliar page, investigate the source elsewhere, compare independent evidence, and then return to judge the original claim. Rather than relying on intuition or scepticism alone, students learn a repeatable process that mirrors the practices of professional fact-checkers. Classroom studies suggest that even relatively short instructional programmes can produce measurable gains, although mastery requires repeated practice across subjects rather than a single lesson. [Ovid]ovid.comedu0000740~lateral reading on the open internet a district wide fieldLateral Reading on the Open Internetby S Wineburg · 2022 · Cited by 261 — Students practiced the heuristic of lateral reading: leavin…
Can students learn to read laterally?
The strongest evidence comes from interventions that explicitly teach students to evaluate online information using the strategies employed by professional fact-checkers. Instead of inspecting only the appearance of a webpage, students are taught to investigate the people, organisations and evidence behind it by opening additional browser tabs.
This matters because many learners naturally adopt what researchers call “vertical reading”: remaining on the original page, carefully inspecting its design, references and “About” section. While these features sometimes help, they are also easy to imitate. Lateral reading redirects attention towards independent information that the original publisher cannot control. [Stanford Digital Repository]stacks.stanford.eduDigital Repository Lateral Reading and the Nature of ExpertiseStaying on a single…
Across multiple educational settings—including secondary schools and universities—students have demonstrated improved ability to distinguish trustworthy sources from misleading ones after receiving structured instruction. Improvements are meaningful but incomplete: students become better evaluators, not perfect ones, reinforcing the idea that digital credibility is a skill developed through continued practice rather than a checklist that can be memorised once. [Ovid]ovid.comedu0000740~lateral reading on the open internet a district wide fieldLateral Reading on the Open Internetby S Wineburg · 2022 · Cited by 261 — Students practiced the heuristic of lateral reading: leavin…
What classroom studies tested?
Several influential studies have examined whether lateral reading can be taught under ordinary educational conditions rather than in tightly controlled laboratory settings.
District-wide high school implementation
One of the largest studies was conducted across a public school district in the United States. High-school government teachers received professional development before delivering six approximately 50-minute lessons on civic online reasoning. Students repeatedly practised leaving unfamiliar websites, searching for outside information, and evaluating sources before accepting claims.
Compared with students receiving regular instruction, participants became significantly better at judging the credibility of unfamiliar online sources. Importantly, the programme worked through classroom teachers rather than researchers directly teaching students, suggesting that the approach can be integrated into normal school practice when teachers receive appropriate support. [Ovid]ovid.comedu0000740~lateral reading on the open internet a district wide fieldLateral Reading on the Open Internetby S Wineburg · 2022 · Cited by 261 — Students practiced the heuristic of lateral reading: leavin…
College students in an online course
Researchers also examined whether lateral reading could be taught in an asynchronous online university course during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students completed brief instructional modules demonstrating how professional fact-checkers investigate unfamiliar sources and then practised applying those methods to authentic online materials.
Students showed significant improvements in evaluating internet sources after the course. The findings were especially notable because instruction occurred entirely online without face-to-face teaching, suggesting that well-designed digital learning materials can successfully teach these habits. [Misinformation Review]misinforeview.hks.harvard.eduMisinformation ReviewLateral reading: College students learn to critically…23 Feb 2021 — Lateral reading allowed fact checkers to eval…
Across different subjects
Later work has explored whether civic online reasoning belongs only in civics classes. Evidence suggests that similar lessons can be integrated into biology, history and other subjects by embedding credibility evaluation within ordinary disciplinary work rather than treating it as an isolated media-literacy exercise.
This cross-curricular approach reflects how students actually encounter online information: scientific claims, historical documents and current events all require evaluating unfamiliar digital sources. [ERIC]files.eric.ed.govERICCivic Online Reasoning Across the CurriculumJune 2, 2023 — by S McGrew · 2023 · Cited by 80 — For example, as part of the workshop, a member of the research team demonstrated how to…
Why practice and feedback matter
One consistent lesson from implementation research is that students improve because they repeatedly perform the actions of lateral reading—not because they merely learn its definition.
Successful lessons typically include:
- teacher modelling of how an experienced reader investigates an unfamiliar source;
- guided practice with carefully chosen examples;
- discussion of why certain searches were useful;
- immediate feedback on students’ reasoning;
- gradual movement from highly scaffolded tasks to independent evaluation.
Researchers found that students often know they should “be sceptical” but lack a practical procedure. Lateral reading fills this gap by giving learners explicit decisions to make when uncertainty arises. Instead of asking, “Do I trust this website?”, they learn to ask, “Who runs this organisation?”, “What independent information exists about it?”, and “Do reliable sources support the claim?” [Inquiry Group]cor.inquirygroup.orgInquiry GroupTeaching Lateral Reading | CORIn this sequence of lessons, teachers model lateral reading and guide students through a serie…
Feedback is especially important because beginners frequently search inefficiently. They may rely on the first search result, mistake popularity for credibility, or return too quickly to the original page. Classroom discussion helps students refine both their search strategies and their interpretation of what they find. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsCivic Online Reasoning Across the Curriculum: Developing…by S McGrew · 2023 · Cited by 80 — Taken together, these studies…
How lessons turn scepticism into action
An important contribution of lateral reading instruction is that it shifts students from a vague attitude of doubt to observable investigative behaviour.
Rather than encouraging blanket distrust, effective lessons teach students to pause only when encountering unfamiliar or consequential information. They then practise a sequence such as:
- Pause before accepting the claim.
- Open a new browser tab.
- Investigate the publisher or author.
- Look for independent reporting or expert sources.
- Compare evidence across multiple credible sources.
- Return to the original page with additional context.
Repeated use of this sequence helps transform credibility checking from an abstract idea into a routine habit. Students become quicker at recognising when further investigation is needed and more efficient at locating independent evidence. [Inquiry Group+2Boosting]cor.inquirygroup.orgInquiry GroupTeaching Lateral Reading | CORIn this sequence of lessons, teachers model lateral reading and guide students through a serie…
Teachers also commonly present paired examples—one credible source and one professionally designed but misleading source—to demonstrate that visual polish is a poor indicator of trustworthiness. Students learn that attractive websites, institutional logos and confident language cannot substitute for independent verification. [Inquiry Group]cor.inquirygroup.orgInquiry GroupTeaching Lateral Reading | CORIn this sequence of lessons, teachers model lateral reading and guide students through a serie…
What implementation research suggests for schools
The growing body of research points towards several practical design principles.
First, teacher preparation matters. Studies that included professional development, modelling and shared lesson materials generally produced stronger classroom implementation than expecting teachers to invent their own approaches. [Ovid]ovid.comedu0000740~lateral reading on the open internet a district wide fieldLateral Reading on the Open Internetby S Wineburg · 2022 · Cited by 261 — Students practiced the heuristic of lateral reading: leavin…
Second, authentic examples appear more effective than artificial exercises. Students benefit from evaluating genuine websites, social media posts and public claims because these resemble the situations they face outside school. [Inquiry Group]cor.inquirygroup.orgInquiry GroupTeaching Lateral Reading | CORIn this sequence of lessons, teachers model lateral reading and guide students through a serie…
Third, instruction should recur across the curriculum. Researchers consistently note that although short interventions improve performance, many students still struggle with difficult evaluation tasks. Continued opportunities to practise in different subjects are therefore more likely to build durable habits than isolated media-literacy units. [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsCivic Online Reasoning Across the Curriculum: Developing…by S McGrew · 2023 · Cited by 80 — Taken together, these studies…
Finally, assessment should reward reasoning rather than memorisation. Instead of asking students to recall a definition of lateral reading, successful programmes ask them to demonstrate how they would investigate an unfamiliar source and justify the decisions they make while doing so. [Misinformation Review]misinforeview.hks.harvard.eduSource details in endnotes.
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Endnotes
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Source: ovid.com
Title: edu0000740~lateral reading on the open internet a district wide field
Link: https://www.ovid.com/journals/jedup/fulltext/10.1037/edu0000740~lateral-reading-on-the-open-internet-a-district-wide-fieldSource snippet
Lateral Reading on the Open Internetby S Wineburg · 2022 · Cited by 261 — Students practiced the heuristic of lateral reading: leavin...
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Source: stacks.stanford.edu
Title: Digital Repository Lateral Reading and the Nature of Expertise
Link: https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid%3Ayk133ht8603/Wineburg%20McGrew_Lateral%20Reading%20and%20the%20Nature%20of%20Expertise.pdfSource snippet
Staying on a single...
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Source: files.eric.ed.gov
Title: ERICCivic Online Reasoning Across the Curriculum
Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1405276.pdfSource snippet
June 2, 2023 — by S McGrew · 2023 · Cited by 80 — For example, as part of the workshop, a member of the research team demonstrated how to...
Published: June 2, 2023
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Source: misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu
Link: https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/lateral-reading-college-students-learn-to-critically-evaluate-internet-sources-in-an-online-course/Source snippet
Misinformation ReviewLateral reading: College students learn to critically...23 Feb 2021 — Lateral reading allowed fact checkers to eval...
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Source: cor.inquirygroup.org
Link: https://cor.inquirygroup.org/curriculum/collections/teaching-lateral-reading/Source snippet
Inquiry GroupTeaching Lateral Reading | CORIn this sequence of lessons, teachers model lateral reading and guide students through a serie...
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Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23328584231176451Source snippet
Sage JournalsCivic Online Reasoning Across the Curriculum: Developing...by S McGrew · 2023 · Cited by 80 — Taken together, these studies...
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Source: misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu
Link: https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/breakstone_lateral_reading_online_course_20210223.pdfSource snippet
Misinformation ReviewLateral reading: College students learn to critically evaluate...by J Breakstone · Cited by 200 — Lateral reading...
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Source: scienceofboosting.org
Title: Boosting Lateral Reading
Link: https://www.scienceofboosting.org/project/lateral-reading/Source snippet
Lateral Reading - Boosting4 May 2023 — Lateral reading is a simple heuristic for online fact-checking: Open multiple tabs in your browser...
Published: May 2023
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Source: misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu
Link: https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/measuring-what-matters-investigating-what-new-types-of-assessments-reveal-about-students-online-source-evaluations/Source snippet
[https://doi.org](https://doi.org)... College students learn to critically evaluate internet sources in an...Read more...
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Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00028312261426323Source snippet
Sage JournalsStudents' Reasoning About Digital Sources and Claims...by S McGrew · Cited by 2 — One approach involves teaching lateral re...
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Source: harvard.edu
Link: https://www.harvard.edu/Source snippet
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders who make a d...
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Source: seas.harvard.edu
Title: alissia di maria sm 26 diving data wearable tech
Link: https://seas.harvard.edu/news/alissia-di-maria-sm-26-diving-data-wearable-techSource snippet
Di Maria, S.M. '26: Diving into the data of wearable tech...
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Source: cor.inquirygroup.org
Title: college students learn to evaluate internet sources
Link: https://cor.inquirygroup.org/research/college-students-learn-to-evaluate-internet-sources/Source snippet
Reading: College Students Learn to Critically...23 Feb 2021 — Students' ability to evaluate the credibility of online sources can improv...
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Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/23328584231192106Source snippet
Increases Canadian Students' Preference for...by JE Brodsky · 2023 · Cited by 26 — Lateral reading: College students learn to critically...
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Source: journals.sagepub.com
Title: Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review.Read more
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/23328584211038937Source snippet
Between Online Instruction in Lateral...by JE Brodsky · 2021 · Cited by 76 — Lateral reading: College students learn to critically evalu...
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Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/23328584211038937?mi=ehikzzSource snippet
Lateral reading: College students learn to critically evaluate internet sources in an online course. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinfo...
Additional References
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Source: aft.org
Link: https://www.aft.org/ae/spring2025/caulfield_wineburgSource snippet
American Federation of TeachersLearning to Verifyby M Caulfield — It corresponds most closely to “stop” in SIFT and the concepts of “foot...
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Source: scribd.com
Link: https://www.scribd.com/document/917966170/Lateral-Reading-on-the-Open-Internet-A-District-Wide-Field-Study-in-High-School-Government-ClassesSource snippet
Enhancing Online Credibility in Students | PDF | InternetThis study evaluated a classroom intervention aimed at improving high school stu...
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Source: merriam-webster.com
Link: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lateralSource snippet
LATERAL Definition & Meaning3 days ago — 1. of or relating to the side; a lateral view. 2. situated on, directed toward, or coming from t...
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Source: mediawell.ssrc.org
Link: https://mediawell.ssrc.org/citations/lateral-reading-college-students-learn-to-critically-evaluate-internet-sources-in-an-online-course/Source snippet
reading: College students learn to critically...Lateral reading: College students learn to critically evaluate internet sources in an on...
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Source: researchgate.net
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371387800_Civic_Online_Reasoning_Across_the_Curriculum_Developing_and_Testing_the_Efficacy_of_Digital_Literacy_LessonsSource snippet
Civic Online Reasoning Across the Curriculum: Developing...27 May 2026 — Civic online reasoning teaches students how to evaluate source...
Published: May 2026
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHLBMTUvj60Source snippet
The Research Behind Civic Online ReasoningThe Civic Online Reasoning curriculum from the Digital Inquiry Group provides resources to help...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Is it legit? Teaching digital verification to spark news literacy learning
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZFDILzTvN8Source snippet
This expert discussion with the executive director of the Digital Inquiry Group (formerly the Stanford History Education Group) highlight...
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Source: researchgate.net
Title: Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review. 2(1).Read more
Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349535570_Lateral_reading_College_students_learn_to_critically_evaluate_internet_sources_in_an_online_courseSource snippet
(PDF) Lateral reading: College students learn to critically...Lateral reading: College students learn to critically evaluate internet so...
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Source: escholarship.org
Title: HKS Misinformation Review. Associations
Link: https://escholarship.org/content/qt3882t34s/qt3882t34s_noSplash_84a9cf33ff4308358dac97b9a2382d81.pdfSource snippet
Fact-checking Instruction Strengthens the Association...by JE Brodsky · 2022 · Cited by 6 — Lateral reading: College students learn to c...
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Source: linkedin.com
Title: HK S Misinformation Review’s Post
Link: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hks-misinformation-review-262115255_lateral-reading-college-students-learn-to-activity-7052329249478696960-LD2ISource snippet
HKS Misinformation Review's Post - Lateral readingApr 13, 2023 — Lateral reading: College students learn to critically evaluate internet...
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