Easier access to research data is changing the research landscape. Investigate the data available for your research topic through the library’s catalog and open-access sources. 

This lesson plan introduces students to lateral reading techniques using the SIFT method. Designed and implemented for a political science introduction to international relations course, this can easily be adapted to other media literacy contexts. Students will practice lateral reading with sample news articles. Worksheets, slides, and sample articles are linked in the lesson plan. Alternative news articles can be substituted.

This handout on business resources was designed in collaboration with the Ciocca Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Although the quips aren't exactly witty, the aim of each remark is to answer the simple question: Why would I use this resource anyway? Even though the handout is created with a specific audience in mind, the quips could be used to highlight any of these resources, anywhere information is needed.

Beginning college students often make assumptions that scholarly sources are inherently bias-free. Students may also hold the belief that if they find a source through a library database, it is automatically a useful and neutral viewpoint on a topic. These mindsets can limit students’ motivation to apply evaluation strategies beyond establishing credibility based on the author’s credentials.This lesson plan introduces the concept of positionality statements to help students understand that scholars do not leave their identities and life experiences behind when they conduct research. Students practice a new way to evaluate and understand the perspective–and limitations–that scholars bring to their research.The lesson plan is designed for first-year composition courses in which students are asked to develop a research topic based on their interests or experiences. It could be adapted for upper-level undergraduate courses in the social sciences.

The goal of this activity is to help students develop a broader understanding how authority is determined and what types of sources are considered appropriate in different contexts. It is also intended to help address some of the misconceptions that students have related to the source evaluation process. 

This web resource provides a brief overview of the concept Authority is Constructed and Contextual. It includes a video, a concept description, and the related knowledge practices and dispositions. 

The goal of this activity is to help students start to think critically about the evaluation strategies that they have learned and whether they support the effective evaluation of information. Students will learn about the lateral reading strategy for evaluation and compare it to their existing evaluation process. 

Sample Excel sheet for recording multiple variables and characteristics when assessing student Annotated Bibliography assignments. 

Reports from leading organizations on Misinformation & Media/News Literacy

This activity is designed to help students understand the difference between background sources and scholarly sources. Students will read a quick overview of the key differences between these source types, and then they will be asked to classify five sample sources. For each source, they will make an initial judgment based on a screenshot and then take a closer look at the full source to see if their gut instinct was correct. Correct answers and explanations are provided for each source.This activity is suitable for in-person, synchronous online, and asynchronous online instruction. It is self-paced and takes most students between 10 and 15 minutes to complete. The activity is hosted on Microsoft Sway, and it can be completed on a computer, tablet, phone, or any device with an internet connection.