Exam practice

• “Quotation marks” find the words side by side, in that order. Example: “Rastriya Banijya Bank” finds the bank, not pages with those words scattered.
• A minus sign before a word leaves out pages with that word. Example: java -coffee finds the programming language, not coffee.
• site: keeps only pages from one website, or addresses ending a certain way. Example: scholarship site:edu.np finds scholarships on Nepal’s school and college websites.
• filetype: keeps only files of one kind. Example: SEE model questions filetype:pdf finds PDF files.

monsoon report 2025 site:gov.np filetype:pdf (with last year’s year).

• monsoon report 2025: the words the report itself will contain, including the year he wants.
• site:gov.np: only government websites, so the weather office’s own copy, not a retelling.
• filetype:pdf: reports are usually PDF files.

(Searching for the office’s name, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, and looking on its own website, is also a good way.)

Any two:

• The order is decided by a program, from how well a page matches the words, how many pages link to it, how new it is and so on, not by checking whether it is true. A popular wrong page can be above a right one.
• The top results may be ads: a company paid to put them there.
• Some websites are built to rank high (with the right words and many links) without being reliable.
• The best page may use different words from your search, so it comes lower down.

Sponsored content is an ad written to look like an article (or a post or video): a company pays a website, or a person, to publish it, often in the website’s own style. It is harder to spot because it looks like the website’s own news or a person’s honest opinion, and the label is small. To spot it, look for words such as Sponsored, Partner content, Promoted, Paid partnership or Ad, near the top or bottom; ask who benefits if you believe it; and check whether it praises one product or company.

1. Who is behind it? Read laterally: search the name of the website, organization or person on other sites (news, an encyclopedia, a government list) to see who runs it and who pays for it.
2. What is the evidence? Look for the original source: the study, the report, the full video, the photo’s oldest copy. Is there real evidence, or only “people say”?
3. What do other sources say? Search for the claim itself and see whether reliable, independent sources (government offices, reputable news, experts) agree.

Everything on the website is written by whoever runs it: anyone can choose an important-sounding name, buy a logo, get a .org address, and write “run by leading scientists”. None of it tells you who is really behind it.
To check: open a new tab and search for “Golden Harvest Science Foundation” (with words like who runs or owner) to see what news reports, an encyclopedia or a government list say about it. Is it linked to a company selling the fertilizer? Then look for the evidence: is there a study of the fertilizer, by whom? And see what other sources, such as the government’s agriculture research council or agriculture experts, say about the claim.

• Search for the claim, and a sentence from it in quotation marks, to find older pages and where it started.
• Go to the original: the World Health Organization’s own website (search site:who.int with the topic), to see whether it ever said this.
• Read what fact-checkers and reliable health sources say about the claim.
• Check the dates: is it an old rumor, shared again?

(It is false: no drink cures all viral diseases, and claims like this often borrow the name of a trusted organization to look real.)

A photo out of context is a real photo shared with a false story: as if it showed a different place, time or event from the one where it was taken.
A reverse image search looks for the same picture elsewhere online. If older copies exist, the photo can’t be from today; the oldest copies, often from the photographer or a news agency, usually say where and when it was really taken.
Clues in the photo: the language and script on signs and shops, number plates, which side of the road the traffic drives on, the weather and the season, the buildings and the clothes.

Both are wrong. Anyone can edit Wikipedia, but it has rules: every fact must come from a reliable, published source named in the article, and many volunteers watch the changes, so most vandalism is removed quickly. That makes it a good place to start. But it is not always right: a fact may have no source (citation needed), the source may be weak or old, or someone may have changed it a few minutes ago. So use it to learn about a topic and find sources, check important facts in its References, look at View history if something seems strange, and cite the source, not Wikipedia.

Go to the original source, the National Statistics Office’s census website, and look for the newest report. The census first published preliminary results (29,192,480), then, after checking every form, the final report in March 2023 (29,164,578). Both appear online because pages copied the first number before the final one was out. Use the final number, from the census report, and cite it.

Asha Gurung (2026). Rhino count rises in Chitwan. valleynews.example.com. Looked at on 10 May 2026.
Sentence, for example: According to a news report by Asha Gurung (2026), the number of rhinos in Chitwan has risen since the last count.

Open every one. A chatbot can make up sources that look real but don’t exist, or give real titles with the wrong address or the wrong facts, because it writes what a source usually looks like rather than checking. She should use and cite only the sources she has opened and read herself, and check that each really says what she uses it for.

Any two: the claim is surprising, frightening or touching, and feelings make people share fast; it seems to come from someone they trust, a friend or relative; it uses the name of a real organization or a real-looking photo; they want to help or warn others; they don’t know how to check, or it would take time.
Before sharing: stop, and ask the three questions (who is behind it, what is the evidence, what do other sources say). Search for the claim and its original source; for a photo, do a reverse image search. If you can’t check it, don’t share it.