technifyed

Artificial Intelligence + Media and Journalism

Detect fake news headlines with machine learning

Train a classifier on a public dataset and show why it learns the source's style, not the truth.

  • DifficultyAdvanced
  • Estimated time2–4 weeks
  • Budget₹0
  • ClassCollege
  • Team2–3 people
  • You needComputer only

Prerequisites: None beyond your class work

Original · by TechnifyedAI/ML ProjectResearch ProjectFree to doComputer onlyResearch orientedPortfolio focusedTwo subjects

My projects

Overview

Train a classifier on a public dataset and show why it learns the source's style, not the truth.

Skills you will use

ClassificationDataset critiqueLimits of models

Materials and tools

  • Computer with Python 3
  • A public labelled news dataset

Tools and software

Pythonscikit-learn

Expected cost₹0Nothing to buy
Estimated duration2–4 weeks5 build steps, plus the report

Step-by-step roadmap

  1. Start

    You will finish with: a model, its accuracy in and out of distribution, and a critical discussion of what "detecting fake news" can mean.

  2. 1

    Prerequisites

    Nothing special to know first. Then collect the 2 items in the materials list.

  3. 2

    Learn

    Read up on nlp: ethics, misinformation, public-data. Your textbook chapter and one short video are enough.

  4. 3

    Plan

    List the features for version one, sketch the screens or data flow and pick the tools. Keep the first version small.

  5. 4

    Build

    1. Load the data and inspect where each class came from.
    2. Train a simple classifier and record its accuracy.
    3. Find the words it relies on.
    4. Test it on headlines from sources it has never seen.
    5. Explain the drop and what the model really learned.
  6. 5

    Test

    Try it with wrong, empty and unusual input, and ask someone else to use it without your help.

  7. 6

    Document

    Write a README: what it does, how to run it, screenshots and what you learned. Report structure

  8. 7

    Present

    Show a live demo of one complete task, then the design and the hardest problem you solved. Presentation structure

  9. 8

    Publish

    Put the code on GitHub with the README and, if you can, deploy a live demo.

Expected outcome

A model, its accuracy in and out of distribution, and a critical discussion of what "detecting fake news" can mean.

Other versions of this project

Advanced version

Remove source-specific words and retrain; report what changes.

Ways to do this project

Text marked "You write this" is a prompt for your own work; everything else is specific to this project.

Research question
You write thisOne question you can answer with data, narrow enough to finish in the time you have.
Hypothesis
You write thisWhat you expect to find, and why.
Variables
You write thisWhat you change or compare, what you measure, and what you hold constant.
Methodology
You write thisDescribe the method in enough detail that someone else could repeat it: sample, tools, procedure.
Data collection
You write thisSay what you will record, how many times, and how you will keep the records safe.
Analysis
You write thisChoose the table, chart or test that answers the question; report averages with their spread.
Limitations
You write thisList what could have affected the result: small sample, instrument limits, things you could not control.

Literature review

Find five to eight sources (your textbook, review articles, reports) and note what each says about your question. Group them by idea, not one after another, and end with what is still not known.

References

List every source you used in one style throughout (author, year, title, where it was published, link and the date you opened it).

Working as a team

2–3 people. Suggested roles:

FrontendBackendData or modelDesignTestingDocumentationPresentation

Report and presentation

Report structure

  1. Title and summary
  2. Problem and target user
  3. Features
  4. Tools and technology
  5. Design: architecture, data model or screens
  6. Implementation
  7. Testing
  8. Results and screenshots
  9. Challenges
  10. Future improvements
  11. References

Presentation structure

  1. The problem
  2. Who it is for
  3. Live demo
  4. How it is built (one diagram)
  5. The hardest part
  6. Testing and results
  7. What you learned
  8. What comes next

Viva questions

Prepare your own answers to these before you present.

  • What is the aim of your project, in one sentence?
  • What is the principle behind it?
  • Why did you choose these materials or tools?
  • What result did you get, and was it what you expected?
  • What went wrong and how did you fix it?
  • How could this be improved or used in real life?

Resources

Source and attribution

Original

Written by Technifyed. Free to use for your own school or college project; write the report in your own words. Added 1 Oct 2026.

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