Today you will

• check whether a website can be trusted
• check an AI answer against a real source
• start your Research Page

Your Research Page is a document of checked facts about your Something Real project, each with the link where you found it.

Warm-up

Have you ever believed a "fact" online that turned out to be wrong? What made you believe it?

The CRAAP test is five quick checks on any source: Currency (how recent is it?), Relevance (does it apply to you?), Authority (who wrote it?), Accuracy (can you check it elsewhere?) and Purpose (why does the page exist?).

A hallucination is when an AI makes up a fact or a source and sounds sure of it.

Using AI honestly means it helps with your own work. Passing off its words as yours is dishonest.

A good source is one you can check, not one with a fancy address.

Example entry

Rank these four sources by trust, then read the checks.

The four sources

1. A dietitian's blog from this year says eggs in moderation are fine. It links two studies and shows she is a registered dietitian.
2. A slick news site says Wi-Fi cuts teenagers' concentration by 30%. It has no author, no study and 14,000 shares.
3. A Revenue page on the tax rate, updated this year.
4. ChatGPT tells you the minimum wage for a 19-year-old "as of 2024".

Write your ranking, 1 for most trusted and 4 for least, then open the checks.

Where was your gut wrong?

You will check one practice claim about a TY trip to Galway, then see what an AI says about the same fare. Follow the steps in the box below.

Here is the claim to check:

You will type this entry into your page:

Common snags

• If you can't find the AI's fact on an official site, or its link doesn't open, treat it as made up and leave it out.
• If two sources disagree, use the newer official one.
• If a page has no date, look for a dated source instead.
• If you get a strange text or email while you research, don't click the link. Just delete it.