Communication Studies

Assignment

Keepin It Real: Tips and Strategies for Evaluating Fake News

In an effort to provide students with an open space to learn about and discuss recent national concerns over “fake news,” the library offered four sessions of the workshop “Keepin’ It Real: Tips & Strategies for Evaluating Fake News” during a campus-wide Inauguration Teach-In on Friday, January 20, 2017. During this session, students had the opportunity to talk about how misleading news sources (encompassing misinformation, disinformation, click-bait, propaganda, etc.) have affected their views on civil discourse, specifically relating to the recent U.S. presidential election.

Assignment

Evaluating Internet Sources - Climate Change

Students will generate a well-reasoned conclusion in a two-page paper in which they identify a "good" Internet source and a "bad" Internet source, using IL source evaluation terminology (outlined in CRAAP) to guide their writing.

They will then explain why the good source should be used to investigate the chosen topic, and why the bad source should not be used in their investigation.

Assignment

Evaluating Claims: Facebook Edition

Students will be expected to find evidence to investigate a pseudoscientific claim or conspiracy theory. For their graded assignment, they will be submitting a two-page paper to their Chemistry professor (the lead professor for this class in which I’m embedding). In their paper, they make a case that either supports the claim or rejects it. They will be expected to use both library and credible online sources for support.

Assignment

Science in the Media

In small groups students give a presentation examining how the popular media reports scientific findings.

Assignment

Evaluating news sites: Credible or Clickbait?

As people rely more and more on social media to get their news, the filter bubble becomes increasingly problematic. In this workshop, students learn how to evaluate whether a news site is reliable. This group activity takes about 30 minutes and can be used for many different audiences by adjusting the examples used.

Teaching Resource

Teaching Resources: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

The Elected Standing Committee on Teaching from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) offers various teaching tips.

Assignment

Pass the Problem

This group activity can be used in a variety of disciplines and contexts. Pass the Problem aims to have students provide feedback to other students on database and keyword selection. By having students critique each other it works to build critical self-reflection during the research process (it's also pretty fun!).

Teaching Resource

Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (RAILS)

Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (RAILS) is an IMLS-funded research project designed to investigate an analytic rubric approach to information literacy assessment in higher education.  The RAILS project is intended to help academic

Teaching Resource

Subject Guides from ACRL's Education & Behavioral Sciences Section

Subject guides compiled by ACRL's Education & Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS). Information for key areas within communication studies including reference works, subject keywords, databases, web sites, organizations, journals and more.

Assignment

Summarizing different perspectives on a controversial topic

Using ProQuest SIRS Issues Researcher or similar database, groups of students work together to find and read four informative magazine articles representing a variety of opinions on a topic. For each magazine article they write an MLA citation. In an oral presentation of less than three minutes per group, they summarize the controversy without giving their own opinions and explain why they chose the four articles. Students are told to be prepared to answer questions about their topic and why they selected each of the four articles.

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