Fact Checker's Bible A Guide to Getting It Right

1 Is That a Fact? How to Read a Piece for the First Time When you prepare to read any piece for fact-checking, make certain you have the latest revision of the piece in your hands; there's no reason to struggle through eighteen pages of galleys that have already been cut to ten by an editor. Read with a skeptical eye. If you like to make notes in the margin as you read, go ahead, but do not begin to mark facts systematically during this preliminary reading. Don't concentrate on the individual facts presented. Focus on the structure of the piece as a whole. This is the time to notice its varying degrees of rhetorical success and any obvious flaws in logic. Once you begin to check the facts, it becomes more difficult to concentrate on the writer's encompassing argument. The first reading is not exactly fact-checking, but it may lead to a very useful understanding of the fact challenges posed by the piece. Your response to the piece will also help you anticipate where the editor may cut or revise it and where you should focus your efforts. The editor will almost certainly ask you what you thought of the piece, and you might as well start off your collaboration by indicating that you understand the big picture as well as the details you'll be discussing and perhaps arguing over later in the checking process. What to Notice During a First Reading - In a general way, do you find the piece credible and persuasive? Does the author seem well informed? If you yourself know little about the subject of the piece, you may want to skim other sources for articles and information before you try to make an assessment. - How does the piece compare to other articles you may have read on the same topic? If you think that the issues have been addressed similarly elsewhere, you will want to confirm your recollection and then make sure the editor is aware of the precedent. - Does the author's perspective seem notably biased or skewed? If so, you will need to be particularly diligent in fact-checking and should be prepared to go beyond the author's sources to get a more balanced perspective. - Do any sections of the writing seem lifeless? They may need to be rewritten. You may want to check other areas of the piece before these dull ones, as they may change significantly. Occasionally, flat writing can be a tip-off that an author is parroting someone else's ideas. When you contact the author after your second reading of the piece, ask that he or she identify sources for all unattributed information. - Does any of the writing make questionable exaggerations? Hyperbolic assertions tend to disintegrate under checking scrutiny, so if the greater argument of the piece depends on suspiciously grand claims, beware. Plan to check these claims early, so the author and editor will have time to do the rewriting your checking may necessitate. The Second Reading During your second reading of the piece you will decide what needs to be checked. This time, take a colored pencil or pen, and as you read, underline statements of fact in the article. These should include any proper names; place names; references to time, distance, date, season; physical descriptions; references to the sex of anyone described (names can be deceiving); quotations; and any arguments or narrative that depend on fact. Determining What to Check in Nonfiction In principle, determining what to check is straightforward. Take these sentences from John McPhee's 1968 book The Pine Barrens. Even before the checker has spoken to McPhee about his source material, she will have a general sense of what her checking will entail. If all the impounding reservoirs, storage reservoirs, and distribution reservoirs in the New York City water system were filled to capacity-from Neversink and Schoharie to the Croton basin and Central Park-the Pine Barrens aquifer would stillSmith, Sarah Harrison is the author of 'Fact Checker's Bible A Guide to Getting It Right' with ISBN 9780385721066 and ISBN 0385721064.