Librarians and instructors see college students struggle with evaluating information and wonder how to best teach source evaluation in a one-time course integrated library research session to ensure understanding and improve student performance. This research compared multiple sections of first-year students over two semesters taught two…

In the 21st century, fake news has detrimental consequences on global communities, relationships, and democracies. Unfortunately, youth unknowingly engage with misinformed content on their social media platforms. Teenagers often turn to social media for information, and it is essential that teachers address reading strategies such as sourcing to…

Given the current threat posed by toxic digital content, preparing students to evaluate online sources cannot be relegated to a single subject area--this instruction should happen across the curriculum. This article focuses on materials designed to teach students to evaluate online information across subject areas. ninth-grade biology and world…

This dissertation explored how effectively first-year writing (FYW) evaluated and selected sources for their researched writing assignments. Though students were taught how to access sources from the library and offered sources on the course management system, most often they obtained sources via the open internet. As mis- and disinformation…

Immune literacy--the ability to hear, learn, read, write, explain, and discuss immunological content with varied audiences--has become critically important in recent years. Yet, with its complex terminology and discipline-specific concepts, educating individuals about the immune system and its role in health and disease may seem daunting. Here, we…

Librarians at a community college in New York City identified that, unassisted, undergraduate students often find it difficult to categorize the various information formats they are locating and citing, such as a newspaper article, a book, a scholarly article, a blog or wiki entry, or a reference source. Due to their untrained approach defining…

Social media are a popular source of information for young people, serving the purposes of not only communication but also the creation and distribution of content as well as advertising. However, that content may contain science-related information that in many cases is not based on scientifically proven sources. Content creators and/or…

Today's college students grew up with digital news media and social media readily available on their smartphones. As a result, students are likely to use their smartphones to access the news through social media where partisan misinformation is easily spread. Efforts to combat the spread of misinformation on social media are being explored on…

The ability to analyze and evaluate online sources for credibility continues to be a universal concern. In a 2006 study by the University of Connecticut, seventh graders lacked the ability to discredit a hoax website about a tree octopus. Using the same website in this qualitative study, 68 elementary students shared rationales about the source's…

While educators and librarians have long been concerned with developing undergraduates' ability to find credible sources, the abundance of unreliable information online has exponentially complicated the situation. In developing a new curriculum for English Composition 1001 classes, a first-year writing class at the University of Cincinnati, we…

In recent years--and especially since the 2016 presidential election--numerous media organizations, newspapers, and policy advocates have made efforts to help Americans become more careful consumers of the information they see online. In K-12 and higher education, the main approach has been to provide students with checklists they can use to…

Literacy today requires not only the comprehension of traditional print texts, but also proficiency in twenty-first century technology (International Reading Association 2009). While reading online has become commonplace and in many instances mandatory, readers are not necessarily engaging with digital texts effectively or efficiently. Instructors…

Many teachers hesitate to integrate internet research into their lessons as they face major uncertainties concerning their students' competencies in retrieving, evaluating and processing digital information. Understanding complex geographical conflicts using the internet poses special challenges to students, as they need to obtain…

This study details the design of library instruction sessions for undergraduate students that intended to encourage critical source evaluation and the questioning of established authorities, and appraises these instructional aims through a thematic analysis of 148 artifacts containing student responses to group and individual activities. The…

From diplomatic spats between Qatar and Saudi Arabia to ubiquitous deceptive "news" updates purportedly sent by the Eritrean government urging all men to marry two wives or risk imprisonment, the future of fact-based reporting appears uncertain as mass media recipients world over become accustomed to consuming "fake news."…