Fake news sources and how to spot them: Faculty Resources on fake news

Library Books on Fake News

Identifying Bias

Name that Bias Powerpoint Use the examples provided or substitute examples tailored to class content.

Source Analysis This worksheet can be adapted and tailored for your goals.

This worksheet can be adapted and tailored for your goals.

Right / Left / Center: It's worthwhile to take a look at a topic from different sides as an assignment or in class activity. Our only warning is to resist assigning a political or ideological perspective to journalism unless it's explicitly stated by the publication. Doing so undermines journalism's aim to be objective and to present facts to the public. It also encourages students to make claims about publications without the benefit of discussing the evidence for those claims.

You can also introduce students to existing features in the New York Times like Right and Left: Partisan Writing You Shouldn’t Miss and Room for Debate, a feature that has experts from multiple perspectives tackling a hot topic.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context is a database we subscribe to that allows you to search for viewpoint essays on a topic.

Evaluation in the Classroom

When teaching news evaluation and media literacy, keep the following in mind: 

• Evaluating sources is not a skill students will be taught in one week or in one course - you're laying the foundation for deeper skills that will be honed over time. 
• Evaluating news cannot be boiled down to a checklist - it requires critical thinking and research for each and every news piece encountered.  
• You're teaching students the skills they need to evaluate viewpoints no matter where they find them - e.g. from The Wall Street Journal or from Twitter.
• You will need to revisit the teaching of these skills throughout the semester. 
• Evaluating sources may be intuitive to you - that is not always the case for early researchers.

News, Articles, Books
Below is a list of academic research articles, news articles, and books about media literacy, education, and fake/biased news. For your convenience some resources are hyperlinked for easy access. For all other articles, please utilize ACC's Library databases and citation look up tools for access. 

"The Stanford Studies"

Stanford History Education Group. (2016.) Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning Executive Summary

Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2016). Why Students Can't Google their way to the truth. Education Week, 36(11), 22.

Donald, B. (2016, November 22). Stanford researchers find students have trouble judging the credibility of information online. Retrieved from https://ed.stanford.edu/news 

Crawford, K. (2017, January 18). Stanford study examines fake news and the 2016 presidential election. Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/

Stanford History Education Group. (2017.) Projects. Retrieved from http://sheg.stanford.edu/projects

"Research by P. Takis Metaxa" 

Mustafaraj, E. & Metaxas, P. T. (2017). The fake news spreading plague: Was it preventable? Manuscript submitted for publication. 

Head, A. & Hostetler, K. (2017, February 21). Takis Metaxas: Separating truth from lies (email interview), Project Information Literacy, Smart Talk Interview, no. 27.

Metaxas, P. T., & Mustafaraj, E. (2012). Social media and the elections. Science, 338(6106), 472-473.

Graham, L., & Metaxas, P. T. (2003). "OF COURSE IT'S TRUE; I SAW IT ON THE INTERNET!" Critical Thinking in the Internet Era. Communications Of The ACM, 46(5), 70-75. 

"Media Literacy / Trust in Institutions" 

Takahashi, B, & Tandoc, Jr, E.C. (2015.) Media sources, credibility, and perceptions of science: Learning about how people learn about science. Public Understanding of Science, 25(6), 674 - 690.

Das, R. & PavlíčkováIs, T. (2013). Is there an author behind this text? A literary aesthetic driven approach to interactive media. New Media & Society, 16(3), 381 - 397.

Vraga, E. K., Tully, M., Akin, H., & Rojas, H. (2012). Modifying perceptions of hostility and credibility of news coverage of an environmental controversy through media literacy. Journalism, 13(7), 942 - 959.

Hargittai, E., Fullerton, L., Menchen-Trevino, E., & Thomas, K. Y. (2010). Trust Online: Young Adults' Evaluation of Web Content'. International Journal Of Communication (19328036), 4(4), 68-194.

Vraga, E. K., & Tully, M. (2016). Effectiveness of a Non-Classroom News Media Literacy Intervention Among Different Undergraduate Populations. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 71(4), 440-452.

Kellner, D., & Share, J. (2005). Toward Critical Media Literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations, and policy. Discourse: Studies In The Cultural Politics Of Education, 26(3), 369-386.

Lelkes, Y. (2016). Winners, Losers, and the Press: The Relationship Between Political Parallelism and the Legitimacy Gap. Political Communication, 33(4), 523-543.

Meola, M. (2004). Chucking the Checklist: A Contextual Approach to Teaching Undergraduates Web-Site Evaluation. Portal: Libraries and the Academy, 4(3), 331–344.