High school project idea · Media & Communication
Take one viral claim from confident post to documented verdict.
Trace a widely shared claim to its origin, test its evidence, consult credible expertise, and explain how the claim spread.
Why this project matters
Trace a widely shared claim to its origin, test its evidence, consult credible expertise, and explain how the claim spread. This project feels different from a school assignment because the student serves social media users who encountered or could encounter the claim, creates something visible, tests it honestly, responds to feedback, and explains the decisions behind the final result.
What you will create
Use these deliverables as milestones for Fact-Check the Internet. Adapt the details to your interests, available time, and real-world opportunities.
Research exact claim, original source, date and context, manipulated media, data provenance, expert consensus, uncertainty, corrections, and amplification. Document the needs, constraints, credible sources, and perspectives of social media users who encountered or could encounter the claim.
Turn the evidence into a focused plan for the viral claim fact-check and verification tutorial, including success criteria, ethical boundaries, scope, and a realistic path to completion.
Create the first complete version of the viral claim fact-check and verification tutorial. Include a claim archive, spread timeline, source verification log, evidence matrix, expert input, verdict, visual explainer, and reusable verification checklist.
ask independent reviewers to reproduce the verification path and identify any step that depends on trust rather than documented evidence Record what happened, what failed, what users or reviewers said, and which changes you made.
Publish the final viral claim fact-check and verification tutorial with a portfolio-ready case study showing the challenge, evidence, process, revisions, results, limits, and next version.
Make the work stronger
For Fact-Check the Internet, use these checkpoints to protect the quality of the work without turning the project into a performance for admissions.
Skills you can build
College application value
Can demonstrate initiative, curiosity, reflection, and growth through the student’s choices, response to setbacks, work with social media users who encountered or could encounter the claim, and development of Verification, Open-Source Research, and Explanatory Writing.
The goal of Fact-Check the Internet is not to manufacture an impressive activity. Do real work, keep evidence of the process, and reflect honestly on what changed.
Related college majors
Use Fact-Check the Internet as a clue, then open a related major guide to compare coursework, career directions, reality checks, and other ways to test the field.
Fact-Check the Internet is an original Compass educational starting point designed around real work, visible evidence, feedback, and reflection. It is not an admissions guarantee.