where should you go when you read laterally

When you read laterally, you leave the page you are on and go to other, independent sources that can tell you more about that page or claim.

What “reading laterally” means

Reading laterally is a fact‑checking move where you open new tabs and search about a site, author, or claim instead of just staying on that one page. The goal is to see how that source is viewed across the wider web before deciding how much to trust it.

Where you should go

When you read laterally, you typically move to:

• General reference sites such as Wikipedia to quickly learn what an organization, person, or topic is known for.

• Reputable news outlets to see how professional journalists and editors are covering the same issue.

• Dedicated fact‑checking sites (for example, those that debunk rumors and hoaxes) to check if a specific claim has already been investigated.

• Academic, government, or major NGO sites to see whether the claim lines up with established research or official data.

What you look for there

On those lateral sites, you mainly check:

• Who is behind the original site (its reputation, expertise, or bias).

• Whether multiple, independent and reputable sources agree with or contradict the claim.

• If the original site is known for misinformation, strong bias, or high‑quality work.

In short, when you read laterally, you go outward : to Wikipedia, news reports, fact‑checkers, and credible reference sites, then use what you learn there to judge the page you started on.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.