Research

Information Literacy is a crucial skill in obtaining knowledge. In this episode, learn how to find credible sources on the internet, read and evaluate a topic critically, and notate your sources. Ethical issues are also addressed.

TV and radio commercials, Web sites and banner ads, magazine ads, pop songs, photos, and even news articles and textbooks: all of them are sending messages to influence the reader/viewer/listener. How do they grab their attention? What are they selling—a product or service? a lifestyle? an ideology?—and why? Would a different media consumer interpret the message differently? This program raises more questions than it answers, which is the whole point: to prompt students to question, question, question the messages they are bombarded with daily. Savvy media consumers aren’t born—they’re made; and this program is an excellent tool for shaping the classroom dialogue. (35 minutes)

While their motives aren’t always evil, people who bend the truth don’t usually do so for the greater good, either. The online world is no exception—in fact, it’s a paradise for purveyors of hype, pseudo-journalism, and intellectual snake oil. This video explores ways to identify bias and propaganda on the Internet and sift through the various influences, such as political or corporate interests, that may be behind some Web content. Spotlighting key aspects of propaganda and bias-driven writing, such as the use of glittering generalities, name-calling, or card-stacking, the program also presents important tips for differentiating between advertising and genuinely useful, scholarly material—a task made increasingly difficult by cleverly disguised sponsorship. Web savvy is further developed through discussions of URL suffixes (.com, .org, etc.) and what they indicate. Part of the series Internet Research and Information Literacy: Effective Strategies and Cautionary Tales. A viewable/printable instructor’s guide is available online. A Cambridge Educational Production. (21 minutes)

Think of fake news as a disease. Without knowing how to identify and stop its spread, information literacy is at risk, especially among audiences whose critical thinking skills are vulnerable. This video series equips viewers with tools to spot the stories and images that are false, biased, altered or slanted, even those shared by trusted friends or family. Easy tips to detect and check fake news will encourage scrutinizing material for opinion, inaccuracy or misrepresentation. Target audiences learn how to avoid being duped by fake news and may be less quick to click until they know what’s real and what’s not.