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Elizabeth Downey

Associate Professor & Instruction Librarian
Mississippi State University

Elizabeth M. Downey is an Associate Professor, Instruction Librarian, and Communication Subject Specialist at Mississippi State University Libraries. She has previously published in Reference and User Services Quarterly, the New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, the Journal of Popular Film and Television, and Transformative Works and Cultures, and serves on the board of the Popular Culture Association. Her research covers the intersections of information literacy, popular culture, and social media. Prior to academia, she was a professional radio broadcaster.

Member for

3 years

Resources Contributed

Bot or Not: Recognizing Fake News Primary Sources on Social Media
These materials were created to complement the "Bot or Not?" learning activity described in "Chapter 12: Fact-Checking Viral Trends for News Writers," in Teaching About Fake News: Lesson Plans for Different Disciplines and Audiences (2021). Students are to divide into groups, take a tweet provided by the instructor (samples are included in the link), and use evaluative methods introduced in the session to determine the veracity and newsworthiness of both the Twitter account and the tweet itself.