Reading a website vertically—reading from top to bottom on a single page—often leads to less reliable conclusions because it limits your ability to verify information across multiple sources and contexts. Here’s why that happens and how to approach it more reliably.

What vertical reading misses

• Narrow focus: You absorb only what the page presents, including its tone, framing, and any selective citations, without considering what might be omitted or slanted.
• Context gaps: Important background, related perspectives, or conflicting evidence may live on other sites or in other sections, not on the page you’re viewing.
• Bias risks: Authors and organizations may present information in a way that supports a specific viewpoint or agenda, and vertical reading makes it harder to spot these biases without cross-checking.

The power of lateral reading

• Verify credibility: Open multiple sources about the same claim to compare how different outlets present the information, who is behind it, and what evidence they cite.
• Check the authors and affiliations: Look for expertise, potential conflicts of interest, and the publisher’s reputation.
• Seek corroboration: Find independent reports, primary sources, data, or official documents that support or contradict the claim.
• Analyze the context: Understand the broader discourse, related research, and historical background rather than taking a single page at face value.

Practical steps to evaluate online information

• Start with the claim: Identify the main assertion and why it matters.
• Break out of the page: Open several new tabs to search for the author, the organization, and key terms from the article.
• Look for red flags: sensational language, vague sources, no dates, or a lack of verifiable data.
• Cross-check data: If the claim includes statistics or studies, locate the original study or official data and review methodology and sample size.
• Consider currency: Check publication dates and whether the information has been updated or contradicted by newer findings.
• Evaluate design and rhetoric: A professional-looking site can still push misinformation; assess whether the design is being used to project credibility rather than to convey substantive evidence.

Quick checklist you can apply today

• Who is behind this information? (author, organization, funding)
• What sources are cited, and are they accessible and reputable?
• Do other independent sources report the same facts?
• Is there any data, methodology, or primary document you can review?
• Has the claim been updated or debunked since publication?

If you’d like, share a specific website or claim, and I can walk through a lateral-reading approach step by step to assess its reliability.