The Fact Checker's Bible: A Guide to Getting It Right - Paperback

by Sarah Harrison Smith (Author)

These days fact-checking can seem like a lost art. The Fact Checker's Bible arrives not a moment too soon: it is the first--and essential--guide to the important but increasingly neglected task of checking facts, whatever their source.

We are all overwhelmed with information that claims to be factual, but even the most punctilious researcher, writer, and journalist can sometimes get it wrong, so checking facts has become a more pressing task. Now Sarah Harrison Smith, former New Yorker fact checker and currently head of checking for The New York Times Magazine explains exactly how to:

*Reading for accuracy
*Determine what to check
*Research the facts
*Assess sources: people, newspapers and magazines, books, the Internet, etc.
*Check quotations
*Understand the legal liabilities
*Look out for and avoid the dangers of plagiarism

For everyone from students to journalists to editors, the methods and practices outlined in The Fact Checker's Bible provide both a standard and a working manual for how to get the facts right.

Front Jacket

The first book of its kind, The Fact Checker's Bible" is the essential guide to the important but often neglected task of checking facts, whatever their source.
Today, everyone is overwhelmed with information that claims to be factual. But even the most punctilious researcher, writer, student or journalist--not to mention the lazy or deliberately mendacious ones--can sometimes get it wrong. So checking facts has become a more pressing task. But how to go about it?
The Fact Checker's Bible covers:
*Reading for accuracy
*Determining what to check
*Researching the facts
*Assessing sources: people, newspapers and magazines, books, the Internet, etc.
*Checking quotations
*Understanding the legal liabilities of getting it wrong
*Looking out for and avoiding the dangers of plagiarism
For everyone from students to editors to journalists, the methods and practices outlined in The Fact Checker's Bible provides both a standard and a working manual for how to get the facts right.

Author Biography

Sarah Harrison Smith has been a fact checker at The New Yorker and head of checking at The New York Times Magazine, where she is now editorial manager. She lived in New York City.