This hands-on activity was piloted as part of a teach-in on fake news at Purchase College, SUNY. To convey the idea that “fake news” exists on a continuum, we did a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey activity using a blank version of Vanessa Otero’s Media Bias chart. The chart is a useful tool for showing the nuances between nonfactual, biased, and inflammatory news sources. Participants are asked to research a news media organization and decide where to place it on the chart, then compare their choices to Otero's original infographic. Two groups can also compare their choices to each other. The...

This recipe from The First-Year Experience Cookbook, edited by Raymond Pun and Meggan Houlihan and written by Jenny Yap and Sonia Robles, helps introduce first-year English and ESL composition students to the differences between scholarly and popular sources.

Discovery tools are great at revealing the variety of sources available to researchers. This one-shot lesson plan makes use of discovery platform facets and features to show students the range of content available. Students will also explore and evaluate how the available information sources differ from each other. The lesson may be more appropriate for upper-level students who have database experience and a basic understanding of what research looks like within their disciplines.

The Question Authority lesson is mapped to the Authority is Constructed and Contextual Frame.  The lesson introduces the concept of authority in the research process, that it is constructed and contextual, and that the authority sought changes based on the research question. Criteria for evaluating authority are discussed, as is the idea that not all voices are represented in authoritative conversations.