LibGuides: Fake News & Misinformation: How to Spot It and Verify: Free eBook &Related Books

Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Mike Caulfield, an open access ebook

Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Mike Caulfield

"....practical guide for the student fact-checker. It supplements generic information literacy with the specific web-based techniques that can get you closer to the truth on the web more quickly." The author, Mike Caulfield, created this ebook using PressBooks.

About the author: Mike Caulfield is currently the director of blended and networked learning at Washington State University Vancouver, and the editor of the New Horizons column for the EDUCAUSE Review.

"We will show you how to use date filters to find the source of viral content, how to assess the reputation of a scientific journal in less than five seconds, and how to see if a tweet is really from the famous person you think it is or from an impostor.

We’ll show you how to find pages that have been deleted, figure out who paid for the web site you’re looking at, and whether the weather portrayed in that viral video actual matches the weather in that location on that day. We’ll show you how to check a Wikipedia page for recent vandalism, and how to search the text of almost any printed book to verify a quote. We’ll teach you to parse URLs and scan search result blurbs so that you are more likely to get to the right result on the first click. And we’ll show you how to avoid baking confirmation bias into your search terms.

In other words, we’ll teach you web literacy by showing you the unique opportunities and pitfalls of searching for truth on the web" (Why This Book? Chapter 1).

Navigatiion Note: Scroll down to clickable Table of Contents under the book cover.

Catalog Picks

Annals of gullibility: Why we get duped and how to avoid it by Greenspan, S.
Call Number: 155.92 G8154a (FP, M, W-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2009
Broadcast hysteria : Orson Welles's War of the Worlds and the art of fake news by Schwartz, A. B.
Call Number: 791.447 S3991b (FV, M-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2015

Through his research, Schwartz uncovered new information about the familiar story of Orson Welles's 1938 CBS Mercury Theatre radio play broadcast of H. G. Wells's War of the Worlds. He recounts in detail how the production was developed and organized by Welles and the panic it caused initially to listeners when the play was interrupted by news broadcasts that Martians had landed in New Jersey. This in fact was "fake news" and a part of the play. Did the broadcast actually result in people panicking across the US, as was reported in major newspaper headlines the next day? In his research of the Welles archives at the University of Michigan, Schwartz had access to original notes and letters sent to CBS, Welles, and the FCC following the broadcast.
Fool me twice: Fighting the assault on science in America by Otto, S. L.
Call Number: 303.483 O916f (M-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2011
Media literacy: Keys to interpreting media messages by Silverblatt, A.
Call Number: 302.23 S5875m 2014 (FV-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2014

Contents: Introduction to Media Literacy -- Keys to Interpreting Media Messages. Process ; Historical context ; Cultural context ; Structure ; Framework ; Production elements ; Worksheet: Keys to interpreting media messages. -- Media Formats. Journalism ; Advertising ; American political communications ; Digital media communications. -- Issues and Outcomes. Issues in media communication ; Outcomes.
The Stewart/Colbert effect: essays on the real impacts of fake news by Amarasingam, A., Ed.
Call Number: 791.456 S8493 (FV, M-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2011

"The ten essays in this interdisciplinary collection explore the issues engendered by the popularity of entertainment news, including the role of satire in politics, the declining level of trust in traditional sources of media, the shows' cathartic or informational function, and the ways in which these shows influence public opinion"--Provided by publisher.

Catalog Picks

Bullspotting: Finding facts in the age of misinformation by Collins, L.
Call Number: 001.9 C7127b (M-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2012

The Internet has become a conduit for conspiracy theories and a Pandora's box of hoaxes, outrageous tales, and fake news items. Atlanta attorney Collins casts an analytical eye over a wide spectrum of subjects, from alien astrology and Atlantis to the Flat Earth Society, Holocaust denials, and the 9/11 attacks. "Always be skeptical of information lacking in significant details," warns Collins.
Debunk it!: How to stay sane in a world of misinformation by Grant, J.
Call Number: 001.9 G7623d (M-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2014
Virtual unreality: Just because the Internet told you, how do you know it's true? by Seife, C.
Call Number: 025.04 S459v (FV-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2014

The author takes "us deep into the Internet information jungle and [cuts] a path through the trickery, fakery, and cyber skullduggery that the online world enables. Taking on everything from breaking news coverage and online dating to program trading and that eccentric and unreliable source that is Wikipedia, Seife arms his readers with actual tools--or weapons--for discerning truth from fiction online."
Web of deceit: Misinformation and manipulation in the age of social media by Mintz., A. P., Ed.
Call Number: 364.163 W364 (FV-Stacks)
Publication Date: 2012

Contents: Introduction: if it's on the internet, it must be true / Anne P. Mintz -- Social media and intentional misinformation / Meg Smith -- They know where you live : guarding your privacy and identity / Cynthia Hetherington -- Demonizing the "other" / Eli Edwards -- Ebuyer beware / Ben Fractenberg -- Information warfare and cybersecurity / Deborah A. Liptak -- The intentional misleading of the American public : political misinformation / Laura Gordon-Murnane -- Charity scams