Fake News & Fact Checking: Background Reading, Keyword Searches, & More
This guide brings together a broad, yet selective range of information and resources for identifying fake news and verifying facts. #fake news #alternative facts
SELECTED SOURCES
- That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously."I’ve noticed that chain e-mails, particularly those about politics, have a lot of things in common: urgent and frightening messages; spelling errors; a tendency to blame mainstream media for not telling the real story; and false, misleading, utterly bogus, and completely off-base claims." (From the website.)
- Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election"We present new evidence on the role of false stories circulated on social media prior to the 2016 US presidential election." (From the abstract.)
- With Facebook, Blogs, and Fake News, Teens Reject Journalistic “Objectivity”"This article examines the news behaviors and attitudes of teenagers, an understudied demographic in the research on youth and news media." (From the abstract.)
- When Fake News Becomes Real Combined Exposure to Multiple News Sources and Political Attitudes of Inefficacy, Alienation, and Cynicism"This research assesses possible associations between viewing fake news (i.e., political satire) and attitudes of inefficacy, alienation, and cynicism toward political candidates." (From the abstract.)
- News Literacy Project"The News Literacy Project is a national education nonprofit offering nonpartisan, independent programs that teach students how to know what to believe in the digital age." (From the website.)
SUGGESTED KEYWORD SEARCHES
You may want to do your own research on the fake news phenomenon. Here are some keyword searches and library databases to get you started:
- fake news
- misinformation media
- disinformation media
- propaganda media
While quite a few of our more than 150 databases would be appropriate for these searches, an excellent first stop would be a communication studies databases. On the library's website, choose Databases by Subject, then Communication Studies to find appropriate databases. Or use the link below.
- Communication Source This link opens in a new windowFull-text research database for communication studies. It offers hundreds of top communication journals, magazines and other sources covering all related disciplines, including media studies, linguistics, speech pathology, rhetoric, and discourse.
MORE TO EXPLORE!
- Lesson Idea: Media Literacy and Fake NewsFrom the C-Span Classroom. A lesson plan that begins with readings about Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Enter a search for media literacy.
- The Global Critical Media Literacy Educators' Resource Guide"Download your free version of the Global Critical Media Literacy Project’s Educators’ Resource Guide. The GCMLP implements the outcomes of a critical media literacy education through a service learning pedagogy." (From the website.)
