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First Year Seminar (FYS-101) Research Exercises

This guide is a companion to the SNHU FYS-101 First Year Seminar course.

Welcome to FYS Research Exercise #2!

Outcomes

After completing this research exercise, you will be able to:

  • Recognize the value of checking the credibility of information in the media and online
  • Know and use strategies for evaluating whether a source is providing true/valid information (Ex: S.I.F.T. method)
  • Use the Advanced Search in Google to generate better search results

To complete this Research Exercise, you will take a quiz located under "Course Menu"  and "Quizzes" in your FYS101 Brightspace course.

Fake or Real?

Green square with "FA" in purple letters left of center and "CT" above "KE" in purple letters right of center.

From Dictoinary.com https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200512_misInformation_1000x700-790x310.png

When we search for information on the web and get zillions of results, it's very hard to know which might be truthful and which might be altered information. We are confronted daily by misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information. Below is a chart showing the different characteristics of the three types of dubious information.

Blue & gray Venn diagram of Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation

Diagram based on Wardle and Hossein's 2017 Information Disorder report  & definitions from Dr. Nicole A. Cooke 2021 LOEX keynote address.

Play Factitious!

2020 Pandemic Edition

The phrase "Factitious 2020" in white font on aqua background.

Click on the image above and play "Factitious" to see how skilled you are at recognizing dubious information, while learning techniques to evaluate news sources on the web. Keep track of strategies you learn as you play.

Strategies to identify "fake" or "real" news articles

SIFT is a helpful acronym for a method developed by Mike Caulfield for initially (and quickly) evaluating online source credibility, and stands for: Stop; Investigate; Find; and Trace.

  1. Stop! Check the Source
    • Do you recognize the source as a trustworthy one?
    • Yes? Continue reading
    • No? Proceed to Step 2.
  2. Investigate the Source
  • Look it up in a tool like the INTERACTIVE MEDIA BIAS CHART. Type in the title of the source in the search box to the left of the chart on that webpage to see where it stands on a political bias from extreme left to extreme right, and on a factual reporting bias from original fact reporting to inaccurate/fabricated information.

Media Bias chart shows graph of logos of news organizations on a left to right spectrum from very liberal to very conservative and a top to bottom spectrum from original fact reporting to fabricated information.

  • Is the author legitimate? A news reporter on staff? An expert in the field of the article's content?
    • Google the author's name (and affiliation if provided) to make sure. (Remember the author of the zerohedge.com article in the game was a character from the movie, "Fight Club?")
    • Even if the author is legitimate, take note of possible biases they might hold being from a particular demographic, background, etc. 
  • Is the formatting and structure of the article accurate?
    • Are there typos? (like in the beforeitsnews.com article misspelling "alarming" as "alarmimg" in the game?)
    • Are there run-on sentences? (like the 156 word sentence in the zerohedge.com article?)
    • Are there a lot of flamboyant (exaggerated) adjectives? Most real news articles don't contain these.
3. Find Trusted Coverage

Sometimes it is less important to know about the source and more important to assess their claim/what they are saying. This is where "lateral reading" comes in.

  • LATERAL READING - Look for multiple known credible sources and compare information across them to see whether there is agreement about the claim being made.
4. Trace Claims, Quotes and Media back to their original context
  • Does it include quotes from identified sources?
    • Yes?
      • Google them to see if they are legitimate experts in the field the article is about!  (Remember the article quoting the expert from Stanford University who is actually a military history professor, not a biologist or epidemiologist!)
      • Google the quote to make sure it matches what a legitimate "expert" has said or is likely to say from their experience and previous quotes.
    • No? Many fake articles do not quote specific experts, but rather mention vague government organizations or "independent" groups.
  • Does it mention a study?
    • Yes?
      • Look up the study and check if the conclusions drawn by the researchers match those in the source you are evaluating
    • No?
      • Check any claims or "facts" about events mentioned in the source with other independent sources getting their own information or information from a different source
  • Is there a video clip?
    • Be sure to find the original video in its entirety to make sure the clip isn't taken out of context

Up Your Google Search Skills!

So now that we have learned some techniques for evaluating information we find on the web, are there tools we can use when we search the web that might lead us to more trustworthy sources? We all use Google, so why not become a really good Google searcher to save time and find better quality resources! Watch this short video to learn some of the tricks Google provides to improve your searching.

Google Search Tricks

This video demonstrates some specific search tools many of which will also work in databases:

  • Phrase searching using quotation marks around 2 or more words
  • Using OR between search terms
  • Using a dash in front of a word to exclude that word from search results (in databases, use the word NOT instead of a dash)
  • Limit results to certain filetypes like PDFs, Powerpoints, Excel sheets, or Docs, by using the command filetype:pdf (or whichever filetype you want)
  • Limit results to come from certain types of domains by using the command site:gov (or edu, org, net, etc.). Government sites are one of the primary ways to locate data or statistics, as the government is the largest collector of statistics in the United States.
  • Use the Gear Symbol in the upper right corner after you conduct a Google search to select the Advanced Search option. This will open up other specific ways to refine your search results such as: dates of publication, numbers to be included in a search, geographic regions or countries, domains (.org, .edu, .com., .mil, .net, etc.), usage rights (important if you intend to find images to include in your papers, or websites, for example)

    Google search results page with gear symbol circled in red and "Advanced Search" in drop-down menu with red arrow pointing at it.

  • More tips are available at Google Help Center's page: How to search on Google This link opens in a new window

FYS Research Exercise #2 Quiz

Please read these directions to access your quiz:

  • Click on the link below to be taken to Brightspace in a new tab. This page will remain open.
  • Select your FYS101 course
  • Select COURSE MENU from the course navigation bar
  • Select QUIZZES from the drop down menu that appears
  • In the list of Quizzes, select LIBRARY RESEARCH EXERCISE QUIZ # 2 
  • You may use this page to answer the quiz questions. You have 2 hours to complete the quiz which is designed to take 10-20 minutes

Rectangle button with "Go to Brightspace to take Quiz" in white font on blue background.

Want to learn more?

(Optional)

If you like playing games to hone your web evaluation skills, try some of these! Just click on the image to get started.

Green letters saying "Choose Your Own Fake News"

Choose Your Own Fake News is an interactive "choose your own adventure" game. Play the game as Flora, Jo or Aida from East Africa, and navigate the world of disinformation and misinformation through the choices you make. Scrutinize news and information about job opportunities, vaccines and upcoming elections to make the right choices!

Picture of male cartoon face in blue shirt & tie with red letters next to him that say "Cranky Uncle."

The Cranky Uncle game uses cartoons and critical thinking to fight misinformation. The game was developed by George Mason University scientist John Cook, in collaboration with creative agency Autonomy This link opens in a new window. The game is now available for free on iPhone and Android. In the Cranky Uncle game, players are mentored by a cartoon personification of climate science denial. Cranky Uncle explains 14 techniques of science denial, from fake experts to cherry picking and a variety of different logical fallacies This link opens in a new window.

Red capital letters that say BAD on the top line of a square and left justified, NE on the second line to right of center, and WS on the third line right justified.

In Bad News, you take on the role of fake news-monger. Drop all pretense of ethics and choose a path that builds your persona as an unscrupulous media magnate. But keep an eye on your ‘followers’ and ‘credibility’ meters. Your task is to get as many followers as you can while slowly building up fake credibility as a news site. But watch out: you lose if you tell obvious lies or disappoint your supporters!

The words "Spot the" in purple followed by "Troll" beneath in orange letters with the "o" like a half-opened door with purple background and green monster face showing.

Spot the Troll, created by Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub, asks YOU to examine images of real social media content and decide whether it's from a legitimate account or an internet troll.

Skeptical Searcher Badge

Are you a Skeptical Searcher?

Do you know about source evaluation? Can you spot bias? Do you know how to investigate sources? Are you a pro at finding other evidence and tracing claims? Prove it today to earn the Shapiro Library Skeptical Searcher Badge! Click on the icon below to get started.

Crystal ball shaped image with words "Skeptical Searcher Shapiro Library SNHU" in the circle.